The Future of the Past
by desiking75
Summary: Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley go back in time in order to tail Tom Riddle. Their cover? Defense against the dark art teachers. They go to Harry's parent's sixth year. But how will their mission go? Read and find out! No Slash. rated for language
1. The Start of a Mission

**Chapter 1: The Start of a Mission**

Harry Potter was sitting in his Lab working on what looked, to the naked eye, like and empty bottle of Firewhiskey. But it was much more- so much more. Now that Harry was officially of age and qualified, along with being rich, he began to work full time for the Order and Dumbledore's portrait (yes, funny enough).

Harry poked the bottle with his wand and it glowed blue, then blinded him with a green aura. He smiled and then broke into a fit of maniacal laughter. He had been working on this project for over two months, without any sleep at all. He laughed and went to lie down on his bed, something he hadn't done for months.

His head hit the pillow and sleep took over.

_Three months ago…_

Harry was inside the Headmistress' office alone. He was staring at a portrait of a man named Albus Dumbledore. Suddenly, the portrait moved and began to speak.

"Harry, are you still upset with me?" The portrait asked.

"No professor, I am upset at the fact that greed consumed you. Your death was your own fault, along with the death of Professor Snape. Because of YOU and YOUR desire to try the stone out, YOU died and left Hogwarts to Voldemort." Harry replied bitterly, "Still, I respect you to some extent, and truly look up to you as a father."

Dumbledore's eyes became somewhat misty. "Harry, you're right. I was wrong to do that, and I am honored that you respect me." He sighed. "So, have you been working with those books I gave you?" He asked. Dumbledore had lent Harry his personal journals of spells that could be used to fight the dark arts, and Harry had to memorize them. Harry had finished three out of the twelve he had and learned to use over four hundred new spells.

"Yes professor, I finished three so far."

"Good, very good. Now I want you to stop. You have learned enough, and we have more pressing matters at hand. I need you to go on a special mission of only which you and I should ever know about. Of course Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley are welcome to know." Dumbledore said as if telling a friend the weather.

Harry had been reading those journals for the past month and a half, and now Dumbledore was telling him to drop them. He was shocked. But Dumbledore had said something about a new mission, and Harry was itching for a battle and to try out some new spells. "Interesting proposition, but what does thins mission entail?"

"Well, actually I need your to be a defense teacher at Hogwarts." Dumbledore said as though it was a great honor.

Harry nearly exploded with anger. "What do you mean you want me to be a defense teacher?" he asked, anger bubbling.

"Harry, Harry, I was just having you on." He chuckled. "The real mission does involve this, but much, much more. Remember when I showed you the memories in your sixth year?" Harry nodded to Dumbledore to continue. Dumbledore's expression changed to one of graveness. "Harry, I really don't know how to tell you this, but you may have to fight Voldemort- again. I want you to recall that after stealing the cup and locket, Riddle disappeared. Now as to where he went, I have no idea. We have reason to believe that he was setting up something very dangerous, something that one of his followers knows about. As you know, the only way to find out is to track Voldemort down in the time where he was actually going about. This however will be a very dangerous mission, but with the spells you mastered, you should be able to hold your own."

Harry was speechless. If he was to accept this mission, he would have to hunt down his worst enemy once again. "I accept." The words were out of his mouth before he could understand what he was going to say. Dumbledore smiled.

"Very, very good. I was hoping this would happen Harry! And, I did forget to mention a perk of the job. Harry as I said you will be teaching defense. Do you know what time period you will be going to?" He didn't wait for a response. "You will be going to the year your parents enter their sixth year. Also, I have to say this mission is very difficult. It requires amazing use of charms, defense and transfiguration. Up to it?"

Harry was ecstatic at this point. He immediately jumped and agreed to the job. He was told to pick a piece of parchment up from the desk near Dumbledore and a quick quotes quill, (one that apparently responded to portraits.)

_Dear Harry, _

_The mission you have accepted is extremely difficult. I need you to look in journal six (the gold one) and journal ten (the one with pictures of socks on it) and read my notes about special time travel and portkeys. From that, you will need to create a portkey that can do time travel. This should take you to the entrance of Hogwarts. Make sure you go to the date of July 27__th__ or earlier as their will be no other way to get the post. _

_You will stay for two years. You will have to leave the castle from time to time, (as you deem appropriate, as you were very good during the Horcrux hunt) and try to track Riddle's movements. Be stealthy and avoid confrontation. You may keep the name Harry Potter, but drop your middle name. _

_You are NOT in any way to reveal that you are from the future. No one (even me) is to know that you are there. The two year stay by the way, I suppose to be for the idea of breaking Tom's spirit. You have the power to break the curse. That itself won't be a problem. Please be wary that you DO NOT kill Tom or any death eater that we have ever seen. _

_Good luck, and I will see to it your partner is informed. He/she will keep you company and cover your classes for you whilst you are away. Good luck and be wary. _

_Yours truly,_

_The order of the phoenix. _

Harry awoke after several long hours of sleep. He was meeting his partner, Ginny Weasley, to tell her that he was done and that she should get packed. Only a handful of people knew about their mission, Dumbledore and themselves included. Everyone else thought they were merely portkeying to a destination for a spy mission for the order, and would be back in a matter of hours.

Ginny and Harry were great friends. They had not gotten together again after their breakup at Dumbledore's funeral. Both of them had been single since. They enjoyed sometimes flirting, but it usually turned to banter, which led to very hurtful comments, which usually led to a great duel. Ginny too had been training with the best Aurors, and played an active role in the order. It was just a matter of time before they left. Harry left and owled Ginny, Ron and Hermione the news. He went to pack his own wonderful trunk.

After the battle, much happened. Harry and his friends were quite bored-especially Harry. Ron and Hermione both began to pursue careers and chase their dreams. Harry however, was confused. He didn't want to play Quidditch professionally, nor did he want to become an Auror. Any other job was useless, so he spent time experimenting and being a kid (at the age of 18-19). In these days, he had followed in his father's footsteps, training to become an Animagus.

He didn't know what he wanted to be. McGonagall had told them once that many humans are born with natural Animagi in them. All on had to do was take a potion and then practice transforming into their animal. The natural Animagus state was the easiest one to achieve, yet the most powerful. They were told that some animals could never be achieved by unnatural means. Unless you were natural, you could never train to be a dragon, phoenix, sphinx, chimera, bowtruckle, flobberworm (eww), basilisk, sea serpent, giant squid, mammoth or wolf (other than werewolves).

One day, Harry had taken the animagus potion wondering what he would be. He waited in front of the mirror for at least ten minutes before a painful sensation took over. His bones were melting away. After thirty minutes of agonizing pain, he transformed into a beautiful phoenix. He was not the same as Fawkes, who was red and could burn to ashes, but an amazing blue phoenix- an Aqua Phoenix.

He was amazed and excited at the same time. It was extremely rare that anyone became a phoenix after all. The only rare forms were a sphinx, dragon or basilisk. Soon after, he had mastered the form of the phoenix and become Mssr Berylbeak.

Now, Harry was packing his bags, getting ready to meet his parents, Sirius, Remus, Snape and Pettigrew. Pettigrew was never in his good books, but he did save their lives in Malfoy manor some time back.

Harry was very proficient in his packing. He had his robes, books and necessities of course. But he also had with him some special equipment. He carried '_The life and lies of Albus Dumbledore' _for special reasons, along with the marauder's map. He had a nice set of Weasley Wizard Wheezes as well. In the bag were some decoy detonators, ton-tongue toffees, skiving snackboxes, about roughly 20,000 canary creams (courtesy of several birthdays) and an invisible head hat, and some new, "good natured" pranks, for when it got extremely dull at Hogwarts. He also carried his invisibility cloak, a few of the journals he hadn't read and some other mementos. He also had around four-thousand galleons for spending money.

Ginny arrived with Ron and Hermione and they said their good-byes. Harry gave them each a mirror that was charmed to talk even through the time zones. Soon after, Harry and Ginny grabbed the old bottle and they were off. This portkey ride was crazier than any other. The bottle spun twice as fast, and rather than minutes, it took them two and a half hours to land in front of Hogwarts. Harry was covered in puke, as was Ginny. They had both hurled before their feeble landing.

"Bloody hell! That was the worst bloody ride I've ever had, counting the threstals." Ginny exclaimed. "What the hell were you drinking when you made that portkey?"

"Shut up Ginny!" He snapped. "That was a bloody difficult thing to make and I'll be damned if you can do a better job of it!" When Ginny frowned, he immediately felt sorry about his snappish behavior. "Sorry, haven't slept for a while. Let's go inside and see if we can get the job shall we? According to my watch, it's the second of August here, so we're a bit off schedule, but I reckon I could still get the job." He said with an amazingly evil grin on his face.

"After you Potter." They walked up to the gargoyle and Harry (as he had forgotten the password he was given) began spitting out names of every weird candy he could think of. Finally, the Gargoyle leapt aside and admitted them.

"Hello Mr. Potter, Ms. Weasley, I understand you are here for a job. May I ask you what qualifications you have?" Dumbledore asked them, his eye twinkling vividly.

"Just a minute professor." He said and reached into his trunk. As he did, he whispered to Ginny to leave them alone for a bit and she obliged. He pulled out their DADA NEWTS and handed them to him. The professor still looked quite grim. Harry decided to help "convince" him. He slipped Gaunt's ring onto his finger, making sure the crest was clearly showing. He waved it over what the professor had on his desk, making sure that it was seen.

Dumbledore broke out into a sweat. "Is-is that what I think it is?" He asked, the twinkle gone along with most of the color in the old man's face.

"Yes, I believe it is. I know about your past Professor, don't make me go there. We need this job for special reasons. Salary and housing is not a problem. We'll split the salary and we can both easily fit into one teacher's suite. Also, I may be slipping in and out of the castle from time to time." Harry said, using the ring's effect on the man to his lucid advantage.

'Yes of course. Consider yourself hired. You may move in today. And may I ask, how long you plan on keeping the job?" Dumbledore regained himself, the shock wearing off.

"Two years, if that is ok." Harry replied, quite pleased with the effect of the ring.

"Yes of course." Dumbledore looked pensive. He was most likely thinking about the curse the job came with.

Harry got up and left the office with instructions to his suite and a teacher's handbook (which he would gift Hermione later, as it was over 60,000 pages long).

Ginny walked alongside Harry to their room silently. He looked at her several times, and she did the same, but neither spoke. They walked into their own suite which consisted of a bedroom (which had a huge bed which was separated into two), a small common room, a bathroom (much bigger and better than the prefects'), a kitchen, and a small dining room.

The furniture for the bedroom was simple, yet elegant. There were three wardrobes, the two beds, a nice big mirror and a wireless. The carpeting was red and gold, and the walls were painted blue and the entire suite came with one house elf that was on their complete beck and call.

The elf looked like a twin Dobby on the outside, but was more of a Winky on the inside. His name was Tacky. Tacky was very pleasant, but at any act of kindness recoiled. Incidentally, Ginny and Harry just showered the elf with compliments every time they asked for something.

On August 26th, after they had finished settling in, they had their first staff meeting where they were introduced. It was quite nice.

Flitwick had treated them with great kindness and was ecstatic at their arrival, Sprout was a bit hesitant, but also was very warm to them. Slughorn was booming. He greeted them with his usual gusto and made himself seem like Merlin himself. Harry and Ginny kept themselves from cracking up. McGonagall was at first tart with them, but grew less and less hostile as the days progressed.

Finally it was the day of the student's arrival. James Potter sat in a compartment in the Hogwarts express with his two friends Sirius and Peter. Peter sat on the seat pressing his back to the window. He was admiring James and Sirius as if they were Merlins-in-training.

James and Sirius were discussing pranks to pull and how great their year was going to be. They had both passed most of their NEWT s and both planned to go to Auror Academy when they graduated. Remus had also done the same, whilst Peter was only going to take Herbology, Astronomy and Care of magical creatures.

Remus came in looking worn out a bit. James was first to respond.

"Hey Moony, why so down? The prefect meeting that bad?" James joked.

"First of all, it's almost that time. Second, I heard there are TWO new professors teaching DADA, and one of them, the head one, has the surname Potter." Remus said.

Sirius jumped. "Crikey, do you know if you've got some cousins or something prongs? I mean this guy has gotta be related to you. How many other Potter's do you know?" James smirked his trademark smirk.

"I don't know if he's related to me, but he's in for one hell of a year. Boys, I think we should divert our attention from dear old Snivellus for enough time to give our dear new teacher a nice welcoming." James was feeling on edge, and his friends could feel it. He never diverted his attention from Snape for any reason. This year was going to be a crazy one.

The train stooped and the four friends boarded the carriages. They chatted all the way to school. They talked about apparition tests, which they all were taking come February, and all the pranks. Soon they got into deep conversation about their first one, which they were planning for breakfast tomorrow. In all six years that they were at Hogwarts, they had never been suspected as the infamous Marauders. Every prank they pulled had been openly signed with the group name, as they used their code names to converse with each other.

As they neared the school, the conversation turned to Lily Evans, James' crush.

"So," Sirius began "when how do you exactly plan to get Evans to go out with you. She doesn't exactly thing of you highly, unless you count conceited, big headed and git-like highly."

James sighed, "I really don't know Padfoot, I'm frankly baffled on what to do. I really almost feel like given up, but I don't do that, I'm James Potter and I have never quit or been beaten at anything. I will somehow get Lily Evans to at least go out with me, even if I have to quit Quidditch."

Remus and Sirius looked shocked. Never had James ever cared enough about anything to give up Quidditch. It was then they realized James was in love with Lily. This was the first time James Potter admitted to being almost defeated.

The school came into view and the plan was launched into full swing.

Harry Potter meanwhile had taken his position at the head table. He watched as his father and mother walked in, each with their own friends. They took a seat and began their talks about their plans. Harry couldn't help but notice they looked a bit too elated and ecstatic about something. Ginny clearly noticed too.

"Harry, I think your father and co. are going to pull a good prank. I've seen that gleam in Gred and Forge's eyes too." Ginny stated.

"Yes, yes, I agree, but I can't help that they're thinking of pulling one on me. If they do though, they won't know what hit them." Harry smiled. He had had some very interesting ideas on how exactly to put the Marauders in their place. After all, he had not brought a nice trunk of wheezes to gather dust.

After Dumbledore's ever-enlightening speech, everyone went to bed, everyone except for the Marauders that is.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter used the Marauders map to sneak into the great hall. The only table still there, was the ever present head table. They went over to Professor Potter's seat and put a few surprises under it for him to wake up too. Remus however felt bad, and before they finished, he talked to the other three.

"Guys, it's his first day and we can't have him like that in the beginning of the day. Let's at least make it fair. How about we set the timer to go off at dinner, so everyone can have some dinner entertainment?" Remus reasoned. His two best friends were not mean, just had a somewhat vulgar sense of humor.

"Ahh hell, fine but only because a _prefect_ told us to." Sirius and James both agreed.

Harry was upstairs in his suite drinking. He had been quite happy seeing his two parents laugh and mingle with their friends, but they had no idea of their fates yet to come. Also, it would be even harder when time came to bid them farewell. It was too much.

Ginny, sensing his distress came out into the living room to comfort him. She laid a hand on his shoulder and he turned around. She took the bottle of firewhiskey from him and pulled him into a hug.

A feeling of urgency came over Harry. He felt the need to cry and right then and there, he did. He took Ginny's shoulder and cried on it. Ginny didn't stop him. She kept trying to comfort him and stroking his back. Harry wasn't sure why, but he felt safe. He felt much better in Ginny's arms and he felt somewhat happy. He wasn't sure why. He didn't love Ginny did he? Even if he did, she would never take him back.

Ginny took a sobbing Harry to the couch and they sat there for a while, holding each other. If anyone who hadn't known them had walked in on them, they would have seen them as a couple. The truth was much farther from that.

Eventually, Ginny fell asleep and Harry finished crying, afraid that if he did, he would wake Ginny. He carried her into the bedroom and laid her on her bed. He laid a soft kiss on her forehead, hesitated and then placed a small kiss on her lips.

Harry went to his own bed, tired and distraught. He was in a tsunami of emotions, not sure what he was feeling or who he was. He closed his eyes, tried to think of only black and fell asleep.

A cold bucket of water was dumped on Harry. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU WEASLEY?" He screamed at Ginny who was coolly holding her wand in her hand levitating a bucket of water over Harry's bed.

"Well, the alarm rang and you didn't wake, so I decided to wake you. You don't respond to touch or screams do you? Anyway, it's our first day, and I thought you might actually want to get up and get some breakfast."

Then Harry remembered. They were at Hogwarts. "Shit! I'm going to be late-wait." He remembered a charm from Dumbledore's journal; the speed charm. If he used it on himself, he would be able to move three times as fast as the normal human, but it would only last four minutes unless he wanted to suffer from extreme exhaustion. The charm physically took a lot from a body, forcing it to move past its limits.

He didn't think twice. The charm was cast and Ginny stared wide-eyed as he got showered got dressed and gathered his things fro class in ten minutes flat.

"Ready!" he exclaimed, clearly happy at Ginny's dumbfounded expression. Ginny shook it off and went downstairs to the great hall to eat.

At ten to nine, Ginny and Harry went into the defense classroom. They had decided to represent Harry as Professor Potter, and Ginny would be his assistant professor and healer for the class. They would address her as simply Ginny.

The first class they had was their NEWT sixth years. Harry felt slightly mischievous and smirked. Once the class was seated, James and Sirius began chatting, since they obviously did not see the professor in his disillusioned state. Harry crept right behind James, and quietly said "Mr. Potter please refrain from talking at least until ten minutes into the class."

James and Sirius jumped at the voice, and Harry realized they still could not see him. The class roared with laughter at the pair's panicked state.

Harry removed the charm from himself and barked in a good impression of Moody, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" And the class jumped. "This class will be extremely difficult. There will be little written homework, but the practical will be applied thoroughly. As you all may very well know by now, the NEWTS are extremely hard blah blah blah. This class is not for the NEWTS or for your studies only. There is as you know a powerful wizard who enjoys using the dark arts. You are learning to protect yourself. On a slightly happier note, sixth year is hell. You will be required to do spells wordlessly, for all your classes. I suggest your practice shield charms as homework today, wordlessly. Ginny, would you like a few words?"

"Yes thank you Professor. First, yes sixth year is hard, but you'll manage. Second Potter here is not at all this strict, he's only putting on a scary face for you. Third yes, Voldemort's rising but you should be able to protect yourself in a duel. That's what this class is for. Anyway enjoy your time at Hogwarts to the fullest. This is the only time you can be a kid so go for it!. Live life to the fullest, because their may never be a tomorrow for you." Ginny said powerfully.

While Ginny was blabbing, Harry took this time to survey the class. Lily was sitting with two friends, one who he identified as Alice Longbottom nee Brown. Looking at Alice nervously was an exact replica of Neville, who was assumed to be Frank Longbottom. He looked at his roster and found that he had several of his classmate's parents in his class. He looked around and found X. Lovegood, Amos Diggory, Lawrence Boot, Severus Snape, Jeffrey Corner, and a few others.

Ginny finally shut up and proposed a duel between the two professors. Harry was blatantly shocked.

"What the hell? A duel now? But…"

"Shut up Potter, we all know you'll lose, but at least don't shirk out." Ginny said taunting him.

"I'll destroy you Weasley." And so it began.

Harry started of by firing twelve stunners in perfect succession. Ginny blocked seven and dodged five. She then began to attempt to disarm Harry. This didn't go too well. Harry clearly would win if he used powerful light spells, but Ginny knew some too. On top of that, Harry knew Legilimency very well but was a complete failure at Occlumency, while Ginny knew both to a fair extent. They dueled for seven minutes and then began to fire of powerful spells.

"_Protego Patronum_!" Harry yelled, blocking Ginny's spell volley. The spell used a happy memory from Harry's mind to create a patronus shield. This animal was different from the stag used against dementors. This one was a bear, who took the hits for Harry. Harry had learned about twelve different patronus spells, which he was extremely proficient at using.

"_Armimpellio!_" Ginny shouted. This spell sent three throwing knives at Harry's bear. The bear could not block such an attack. He dodged, after dispelling the bear.

"_Phlogiston Draconis" _Harry yelled, giving off dragon's fire from his wand. The class watched in awe as the flames engulfed an awe struck Ginny. Harry had not cast the spell to harm, but just to encircle the target in a sphere and trap them. No spell could make it through- not even a killing curse.

Class had ended about five minutes ago, but the class didn't move. They were too busy watching Harry and Ginny duel. Now the duel was over and they left, quite stunned by Harry's skill. They had never had a teacher who could duel like that. James, Sirius and Remus left the classroom mouths agape.

James was the first to speak. "H-h-holy shit! Did you guys see what he did! This guy is crazy powerful, and he's related to me! Wow this guy rocks!"

"You got that right mate. I thought we could duel, but seeing those two, I doubt it. They were amazing. He used a bloody patronus as a bloody shield! Bloody unbelievable." Sirius said, still shaking.

Remus' face had drained in color. "Guys, what do you think he'll do to us if he finds out we're planning a prank on him?" Sirius and James thought for a second. Sirius answered.

"Nah no one here has figured it out yet- not even Dumbledore. How in Merlin's name will he find out?" James agreed and they set off to their next class.

Harry, meanwhile, planned his own prank. He snuck down into the kitchens and found a house elf. He talked and gave the elf something. He was going to have some payback today.

Going back up, he met Ginny. The classes for the day had ended, and they made their way back to their quarters. Ginny closed the door and began talking.

"How, and when exactly did you learn such powerful magic?" Ginny asked, seeing Harry in a new light.

"Well, you're not the only on looking up spells, besides I only work for the order and don't exactly get many jobs." Harry answered coolly. He was tired and it was showing.

"Harry, why don't you get some rest? We have a good hour and a half before dinner and you look as if you've been chasing Hippogriffs all day."

"Fine thanks Ginny." 

"No problem Potter." He collapsed on his bed and instantly fell asleep, setting his alarm for an hour.

When Harry woke up, he was surprised to find Ginny sitting on a chair next to his bed reading. She seemed to have dosed off. Harry felt a grin erupt from the sides of his mouth and grabbed his wand, got a safe distance, and conjured up a bucket of water. He dumped the water on Ginny's head and she screamed.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THAT BLOODY THING YOU CALL A BRAIN POTTER?" Ginny screamed clearly angry. She brandished her wand to send a Bat-bogey hex at him, but he simply put up a shield.

"Payback's a bitch Gin, payback's a bitch." He said and went to get ready for dinner.

Meanwhile, James and Sirius were discussing what they would do. Sirius was still a bit afraid of Professor Potter.

"You know Prongs, you have it all. A cousin or uncle or whatever who can duel like a kind, the seeking skills of a pro, great grades, and the best of friends, hell if you get Lily, your life will be perfect."

"Yeah, you're right Padfoot, life is good. Besides, this year I am definitely going to get Lily. This is my time." James began to contemplate. After all, it was only the first day of school.

James and Sirius began to make their way down to dinner.

Harry finished getting ready and was now waiting for a very angry Ginny. She had taken a shower because the water had made her feel the need for one. She was still angry about what he did, but he still wasn't sure why. Hadn't she done the same thing to him this morning?

He felt a light prickling sensation in his back pocket. He grabbed the mirror and took it out to see Ron's smiling face. "Hey mate, how's Hogwarts?" Ron asked.

"Great! I saw my mum and dad, and their friends. I even saw Snape in defense. So far everything's perfect." Harry said, feeling elated at his best friend's face.

"That's great! So, when do you plan to start tailing Tom?"

"I think I'll have a go at it this weekend, after all I should be able to get through my first week here y'know?"

"Good, it's just that the codger wanted to know the progress of the mission." Ron said playfully.

They had made up codenames for certain people between the four of them. Anyone in the Weasley family (kids) were carrot top with a number (Ron is carrot to VI), Harry was Beryl , Hermione was Kneazle, Dumbledore was the codger, McGonagall was the crazy cat, Filch was the hag, and Kingsley Shacklebolt was the man. The names had been used only in the presence of the one's being talked about.

"Well Ron, I've got to head down. My dad and the rest of them have planned a prank that I'm not supposed to know about. Bye!" Harry said and shut the connection.

Harry went to the bathroom and knocked indicating Ginny come out.

"Oh, go on Harry, I'll be down in a bit. I just need to finish getting ready."

Harry snorted and wondered why on earth she was getting ready for dinner. It was a simply dinner, nothing to get ready for. Trying to ignore it, he went down and sat in his seat. The marauders wore wide grins, and Harry knew they had planned a nice welcome for him.

The food came onto the tables and everyone began to eat. Harry kept a weary eye out for anything that might come for him. He of course would make no attempt to stop it, but he just wanted to be prepared. As soon as dinner disappeared, the pudding appeared as usual. In front of Harry however, was not a pudding or tart, but a huge pie. The pie had the letters '_Welcome to Hogwarts Professor Potter!_" Suddenly, the giant pie hit him in the face. When it finally fell off, the tray the pie was in rose over the head table and exploded, forming flaming letters. The letters arranged themselves to say "_Welcome Professor, from the marauders!_"

Harry however wasn't very happy with this one bit. It got even worse once he looked at his reflection in a spoon to find his hair was purple, and had yellow steaks. Ginny however, couldn't contain herself. She giggled like she had just seen Slughorn trying to ride a broom, while Sprout played the accordion and Luna Lovegood spoke about gnargles. Harry however got up and stormed out.

As he was leaving, Ginny got up and whispered "Payback's a bitch Potter, payback's a bitch."

And he stormed out much angrier than before, but smiled at what would happen to James and the gang tonight.

"Ha! Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, did you see his face? We got him good. He didn't know what hit him. God I love my ideas and I love our executions of them. Bloody brilliant, gave my dear cousin what he deserved for today's little class." James said laughing.

"Right-o Prongs, great touch with the letter's Moony, you gotta love that! The purple hair was hilarious!" Sirius droned.

After desert, the group walked up to the common room, where they chatted about their overzealous prank till about eleven. It was late, and they hadn't done much homework, not that they had too much.

"Well, I'm hungry, so Prongs, Wormtail, Moony wanna hit the kitchens? None of you ate and you all know I've got ten stomachs. So let's hit it?" Sirius asked.

"Sure Padfoot"

"Yes, I have to agree"

"Do…do I have to come?" Peter asked clearly afraid.

"YES!" all three said together.

The group trudged down to the kitchens, using the map to avoid anyone. When they entered, a house elf greeted them.

"What can I do for Sirs?" An elf asked bowing.

"Just get us some nice food, preferable some desert items!" Sirius said licking his lips.

The elf returned with some custard creams. They each took about ten and went back up to their dorm to eat them. When they got up, they each began talking, popping a cream in their mouths. Sirius ate all ten of his in less than a minute. Remus took a bit longer, ten minutes to be exact. James ate at a nice pace of five minutes and Wormtail ate in about twenty minutes.

When they were about to pack in and call it a night, they each got an uneasy feeling in their stomachs. Deciding they should sleep it off, they chose to ignore it. Little did they know what was about to happen.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" James screamed when he woke up. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME? I'm A BLOODY TALKING CANARY!"

Sirius, peter and Remus were also the same. Each of them was a small bird. They wondered what had happened, since it seemed they had clearly been pranked, and quite badly by the looks of it.

They wondered who could pull of something so amazing, yet so subtle.

Harry woke up in his bed smiling at the thought of the Marauder's fates.


	2. The Entrance to Hell

**Chapter 2: The entrance to Hell**

Harry pulled out of bed smiling. He couldn't seem to stop considering he'd pulled a prank on his father along with Sirius and the traitorous Wormtail. Ginny seemed to notice his happiness, and she noticed it wouldn't fade.

"What's up Potter? You may not be weird faced anymore, but why the bloody hell are you so happy?" Ginny asked.

"Well Weasley, you may want to take a look at the marauders today. They may seem a bit under the weather, WWW style." Harry smirked.

"NO, you didn't? He's your own father! Are you really going to engage in a prank war with him? For Merlin's sake Harry, you are on a mission!" She almost screamed at him.

"Yeah, yeah, but the old codger didn't say I couldn't have a little fun with it did he?"

"No, I suppose he didn't, but when exactly are you going to pursue Tom?"

"I think I'll do it next weekend to start, but this weekend, I'll go off and look for clues as to where he might be."

Ginny sighed at this. "Fine, but you better plan lessons because I know after next weekend; you won't be coming back for Monday or Tuesday. You're probably going to go all out until you put a trace on him." She said this in a reprimanding tone that would have made her own mother wince.

It made Harry cringe. "Bloody hell Gin, what are you, channeling your mum? And fine I'll give you the lesson plans, just get off my back. Besides you teach the newt classes with me anyway. The only ones I have to give you are fifth and third. You teach the other three anyway." He reasoned.

She seemed to accept this answer because she just went to that bathroom to get ready while Harry got out the stuff he would need for the lecture and headed out. When he got to the great hall, he could hear insane bouts of laughter coming from the tables. James and his buddies were all canaries and had to eat their breakfasts as birds. It was hilarious to see each of them try to get a piece of bacon in their beaks, only to see them miss the bacon and hit the plate hard.

After a while however, the laughter died down, and a banner came down. The banned was a huge one that fell over the house table and said "The Marauders are to be repaid for all of their shenanigans through the years- Berylbeak." This earned the four now revealed marauders glares from fellow students.

Harry and Ginny went to teach their newt classes, which they had first thing in the mornings on Tuesdays. Harry had set up the room for patronus lessons. Although it was the first week of school, he thought a patronus would be a fun way to begin the year.

The three Marauders were the first to come in. Harry felt bad about them feeling they had an unknown enemy, and there were still ten minutes till class began.

"Oi Marauders! Come here for a second." Harry asked nonchalantly. They all came over, rather downtrodden seeing that they had to move in little bird steps.

"Yes professor?" they asked.

"Well, to tell you the truth what did you think of that wondrous canary prank?" He asked

"It was quite good, but I just wish we knew who did it." Sirius said quite seriously.

"Well, look no further boys, that was just a little payback for clown-facing me yesterday, it really wasn't smart to make a rival out of me, especially before you tested the waters."

"YOU"RE BERYLBEAK?" They exclaimed.

"Yes, but no one else needs to know that do they?" They all shook their heads, frankly scared.

"But how did you know it was us?" James asked, put off that they had been found out.

"James, we're both Potter's although our relation is unknown, and I spare a glimpse at you an your friends in the great hall. Your faces were full of pure guilt. There was no doubt that something was up, but don't try to out-prank the master alright _boys_?" he stressed the word boys as a taunt.

"If you really want a war, we can give you one very easily professor." James taunted back.

"A threat from a canary, now that's funny!" He laughed and the Marauders went back to their seats.

The day went as it was suppose to. Ginny had to show them a corporeal Patronus because Harry's would reveal too much. At the end of class since there was enough time, Harry and Ginny had another mock duel, much to the students' pleasure, and Harry displayed some of his more prominent hexes.

The seventh year class went the same way, and after that Harry was free. He had no classes that day as the third and fifth years didn't have defense on certain days.

Ginny on the other hand had a few more classes to go through. Harry decided to sit the day out in his office and have a nice cup of coffee. As he got bored, he pulled out the Marauders map, and decided to have a look at what was going on. Something interesting caught his attention.

Harry bolted out of the room into the corridor he was looking for. He knew it was the right one when he heard bouts of laughter, and saw a circle of people. Inside the circle was an unsuspecting third year with a head the size of a small hippogriff.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked, only to find Sirius and James in the center, holding the poor boy at wand point. The two had lost their canary state and had decided to have a hexing spree. Harry immediately set the boy back to his original head-size and had a seventh year prefect escort him to the hospital wing. "Potter and Black in my office NOW" He said a little loudly. Clearly, everyone was quite afraid to hear him even raise his voice a bit. He hadn't even gotten close to angry after the Marauders got him with the clown pie.

"Yes professor." The two boys were petrified. The professor had seemed so nice, not one who usually got angry. And from experience, both boys knew that a person who seldom got angry was much scarier than a person who got angry often. They also knew that someone who didn't get angry and just nodded t them, would make it worse, as they would feel guilt.

The three got to the office and Harry closed the door. "Why exactly inspired you to do that to a younger student?" He asked calmly.

Both boys were looking down at their feet, shuffling nervously. James felt obligated to answer. "Well professor, you see, we saw it as an ideal opportunity to test our prowess in defense against the dark arts. We wanted to see if we had the skill to out duel you." He attempted.

"Flattery will get you into a deeper pit. From what I got, hexing innocent bystanders gives you a thrill? From what Ms. Weasley and I have assessed from you is that you think you are better than everyone else, and that gives you the right to hex people into oblivion. Well, for that I have to say I am disappointed in you. I'll bet that this year that notion of yours will die. Both of you, two detentions apiece, and if I may have your communication mirrors?" he summoned them before they could even open their mouths. "Now, off to charms with you two."

The two left the office without a sound and Harry smiled to himself remembering that he had to deflate James' head a bit, in order for lily to grow close to him.

The weekend came much faster than Harry had anticipated. Before he knew it, he had his last class for Friday- his third years whom were learning about Boggarts and how to dispel them. As soon as it was over, He grabbed his rucksack and headed off to Hogsmeade under his invisibility cloak.

He found a place behind the shabby Hog's head to apparate. Harry himself had no way of actually knowing where Tom was, which would make this extremely tedious. He decided to apparate to Borgin and Burkes. The shop was very unchanged since Harry had seen it in his sixth year. It hadn't been demoted or improved in any way. The only difference was the dark objects available to the public.

Harry got up the courage to go to the counter and ask about the young Tom Riddle. All he got was that riddle had disappeared. This meant that Hephzibah Smith was most probably dead. Out of curiosity, Harry decided to check a few other things. He went around town, and talked to all those who had ever come into contact with Tom. Every single person proclaimed him a sweet boy who was very nice.

Harry had to suppress a laugh seeing how gullible and foolish these people were. 'The ministry is either too innocent or too corrupt, no equilibrium for those bastards' he thought grimly.

Harry then had another idea. People weren't the ones who would know about the real Tom Riddle, but something else. He bolted towards a pet shop in Knockturn alley. Swinging the corner, he found what he was looking for. The storeowner had seen tom, but could say no more.

Harry stunned the owner and locked the shop up. He went to the section of the store that held the snakes. One cage was empty, probably was the home of Nagini. Harry went around to each of the serpents until he saw a rather small one. This one was only seven inches in length and was not suppose to grow any more. Harry asked him about Tom.

"_I will tell you anything, but please take me away from here afterwards." _The snake persisted.

"_Fine, but what can you tell me about the boy who bought a snake from here? Do you know where he was going?" _

"_He was going to some place to avenge someone. He promised to kill some muggle after he left the shop. The owner was obliviated and would not know about him. He is planning a murder soon, as he left this shop a mere day ago." _

"_Thank you. I think I know where he is going."_

"_Why do you follow him? He seemed very powerful and evil. You do not seem very evil, but you have power that rivals his. Is there something you have to settle with this man?"  
_

"_Yes, the man killed my parents and many people close to me. I have some business with him. Please do not disclose my secrets." _

"_I would never betray my master's secrets. I will serve you as you wish for me to." _

"_Fine, let's leave now, but do not call me Master. My name is Harry and you will address me as such."_

"_Yes Harry, but do not forget that you must bestow a title upon me as well."  
_

"_Fine, how would you like to be called Lion?" _

"_That would suit me well. Let's leave."_

"_Fine slither into my sleeve. I have to keep you hidden from most."_

"_As you wish Harry." _With that, the snake slithered into his sleeve and he apparated under his cloak to the library.

After gathering some old records, he apparated to the hog's head for a drink. At thepub, he read through the obituaries, but found no sign of the deaths of Tom Riddle Sr. and his parents. This meant that Tom killed them after MS. Smith. Harry bolted out of the pub at light speed.

From the Hog's Head, he apparated to Little Hangleton, hoping to catch Tom while he slaughtered his parents. Sure enough, he arrived just in time to see three flashes of green light blast the three muggles into their deathbeds. Silently, he snuck behind Tom and positioned himself for a complex tracer charm, much like the one used to detect underage magic. He fired it just as Tom fired the memory charm at Morfin.

Luckily enough, the shot hit Tom clear in the leg without him being any the wiser. Harry smirked archly. It was time to put the operation underway. Carefully, he pulled out a parchment. Tapping it with his wand three times, he whispered a transfer charm, to transfer the tracer from his mind to the paper, making it a type of marauders map to locate Tom.

Looking it over, he found Tom had apparated to Australia. Harry however knew it may have been a trap, as to check if someone had put a charm on Tom. The tracer Harry used was impossible to find, unless the tracker actually came into range. As long as Harry stayed away, the tracer was virtually indestructible.

He smiled and apparated to the three broomsticks for a nice drink, during which, he checked his watch. It was two in the afternoon, and he was sure he had left at four in the evening. This meant that he had spent a mere day for the entire mission. He was free for a week and a half.

Harry felt happy at that thought and sipped his firewhiskey while reading his Tom trace. He found that tom spent his time in the Hangleton residence for hours. He seemed to be sitting, and relaxing.

After about three hours, a few people joined him. Mcnair, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Nott were a few whom Harry recognized. Malfoy was only four years ahead of Snape, meaning that he had only graduated three years ago and was most likely only twenty.

It was around seven when Harry cleared out of the pub and headed to the castle. The trip had exhausted him and cost him a full night's sleep.

He checked the marauders map to find his path clear to his quarters. Quietly, he stole away into the castle, and slipped into his room unnoticed, by everyone except Ginny.

"So Harry, how was your day with Tom?" She asked causing him to jump.

"Bugger Gin, do you have to do tha- OW!" She hit him on the shoulder.

"First, don't call me Gin, second, just answer my bloody question." She said crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

"Fine, lets see, I put a trace on him and have it on this map here. I found him as he was murdering his beloved father and grandparents and got him there. I even picked up Lion on the way." He added.

She looked at him quizzically. "Lion?" As if on cue, Lion slithered out of his niche in Harry's robes and slithered around his wrist like a bracelet. Ginny screamed bloody murder.

"Ginny relax, jeez who the bloody hell would've thought you would be scared of a tiny snake."

"Shut up Potter and just get that bloody thing away from me!" She said petrified and ran out of the room in trepidation. Then it dawned on Harry where her fear of a snake came from- the basilisk. It was then he realized why she hadn't been afraid of snakes in their dimension. In this time, the Basilisk wasn't dead, and the chamber was theoretically a threat still.

He ran after her, feeling guilty about his remark. He went into the bedroom where she was laying. She was on her bed, curled up and shock still. He crept up to her and tapped her. She bolted upright. The look of pure vulnerability on her face made him melt. The strong, ever battle ready Ginny that he knew didn't seem present in her.

He put a hand on her shoulder and began talking. "It's all right; no one can open the chamber this time. The diary is with Tom and if anyone opens the chamber, which they won't, I'll be there this time to end it quickly. The Basilisk is trapped and Lion isn't and evil snake. He helped me find Tom. He asked me to take him, because he didn't want to be surrounded by dark magic and dark snakes. Trust me he's not at all evil, and if you don't like him, he'll keep away from you." He said.

His words seemed to work because after he said them she hugged him and cried into his shoulder. He rubbed her back and he felt his stomach jump. After a while, they broke apart and she whispered "Thank you Harry" into his ear. The old Ginny seemed to bounce back out right away. "So Potter you must be tired. You have bags under your eyes which means you forgot to sleep. Why don't you go to bed and I'll wake you up for dinner."

"Thanks Weasley, but I won't forgive you if I have to miss dinner; you know food is my number one priority." He teased and she rolled her eyes.

"Ron has rubbed off on you and Hermione way too much. I mean he's got Hermione using curses and you thinking about food over a dark lord, Merlin knows what he's done to both of you." She said.

Harry decided to use his common sense for once. He knew if he lay down even for a second, he would fall asleep immediately. Therefore, he decided to pick up his mirror and call Hermione. Hermione's face popped up in an instant.

"Oh! Hi Harry, I'm guessing you called in to give your mission report?" It was more a statement than a question. When Hermione was in business mode, no one could get her to even get into small talk.

"Yes Hermione. I put the trace on Tom and I know he's right now in the old Riddle house. Also, any activities out of the usual will be reported regularly." He said. This satisfied Hermione and she swapped modes.

"Good work Harry, but you look a bit tired. Did you forget to sleep?" She asked with a knowing look on her face.

"Yes, but all's well. Now I get next weekend off and I even get to relax for a day." Harry responded, ready for a harsh telling off.

"Yes Harry, but do take care of yourself. I would say more, but Ron has told me not to 'baby' you. Anyway keep in touch with us seeing that we won't see you for another two years. Good luck!" And with that, she hung up.

Harry fell onto his bed and sleep instantly kidnapped him into a dreamless array of peace. It felt good to sleep after a successful day. It seemed that he was awoken by Ginny all too soon.

"Oh come on Weasley, what time is it?" he asked clearly irritated that he had been awoken.

"Well, it's about seven in the morning and you haven't eaten for enough time. I have to say, you may want to go for breakfast. The kids have inquired where you were and they seem to think you died. James and Sirius have also been looking for you quite a lot." He shot up. He had been asleep for over nine hours.

He got ready and went to the teacher's table for breakfast. James and Sirius came up to him within ten minutes.

They both had rather downtrodden looks on their faces, and James spoke first. "We're sorry that we hexed a student for no reason. You're right; we had no right to do it as we are not kings. Just because we top in many things does not mean we have the right to hex everyone in the castle."

Sirius nodded at this and added his own excerpt. "We went to the boy and apologized. We were way out of our league to do that to him and he accepted out apology. Again professor, we'll never do it again."

Harry smiled inside his mind, but kept a poker face outside. "Right then boys; I have to say I'm proud of you, but only if you mean it. I really hope that you aren't saying this just for the sake of it. As long as you see to it that that's the case, you are forgiven." The two smiled and nearly skipped across the great hall to their table.

Harry smiled outward this time. He'd made a difference in his father for the better. This made him quite happy with himself and the changes he was making. He ate his breakfast and headed back up to his office to rest. He had been absent for two days, so Ginny had filled in his office and paperwork (for which he was eternally grateful).

He laid back and relaxed, while enjoying a nice chat with Lion about his life and all that he had set out to do. Lion soon knew about his entire quest and all he had to do from start to finish. How it had happened Harry didn't know, but he had fallen asleep in his office, talking to Lion. It was a good thing that he had cast a locking and impertable charm while he spoke parseltongue, because after he fell asleep, Lion did as well, right on Harry's desk.

Harry awoke the next day to a hiss near his ear, where Lion had taken residence in order to wake his master.

"_Wake up, it's time for breakfast and if you don't get up!" _he hissed as loudly as possible.

"Huh, oh _thanks a lot Lion, but you're right I better go take a shower first though. I'll feed you and then I'll set you in my room. Please watch the map and if you see any activity while I'm in class, I'll leave a portkey that'll lead you into my left sleeve." _Harry said and got up to leave. He had one class in the morning that day and he intended to get a bite form the kitchen before he had to teach.

After he got ready, he ran to the kitchens to get some breakfast for himself and a bowl of bacon for Lion, which he banished to his room to save time. Ginny met him on his way to his first class, but he ran past her before she could admonish him for it.

He slipped into his fifth year class and began teaching the basics of dueling and defensive techniques.

It was late October when things began to get into motion. Tom had started to move around in various patterns, confusing Harry. His scar was also not very good, because the relationship hadn't developed yet. The piece of soul that rested within Harry was gone. This made for a confusing world.

It was the day before Halloween when Harry felt very apprehensive about what Tom was or was planning to do. The thought scared him, but he couldn't just act on a feeling. Voldemort wasn't actually doing anything, so he had no reason to ask Ginny to fill in for him. Acting on a whim would just leave him in a Dept. of mysteries situation.

"Ginny, I feel Voldemort's up to something. Could you please sit with me through my classes?" He asked hoping to convince her.

"Fine, but don't expect me to teach. I'll be under cloak. If you leave during my classes, just send a note up to me using that flying parchment spell they use at the ministry." Ginny said, obviously skeptical about Harry's assumptions. "Honestly, I think you're just paranoid because he murdered your parents on Halloween and let a troll into the castle your first year."

"Ok whatever, but Lion has been watching the map and is really anticipating something as well." Harry said annoyed. He had been convinced that something was up, and Ginny had to get him thinking about his bloody subconscious. Now he wouldn't be able to teach straight.

All was well throughout the day until his newt class, where the students were studying how to take down a dragon. It was a topic suggested for fun, as Harry didn't want them to work on Halloween. He had developed a bond with many students most of whom respected him and trusted him.

As they were discussing a strong conjunctivitis spell at the eye, Harry felt something slither up his left arm. Lion got as close as he could to the collar of Harry's robes and whispered _"He's underwater now. He went directly inside the Bermuda triangle. Something's up lets go." _

Harry sprung into action. "Erm… Weasley could you finish this up? I have to go, Tom's on the move." He said and ran out.

"_Ready, I'm going to apparate. Did I forget anything?" _

"_Hmm… other than the fact that time is of the essence, no, nothing."_

"_Shut up."_

"_Just hurry up, I really don't have all day. Let's just go check it out an come back. You are really mean if you expect to leave Ginny here all by herself. What will she think of you taking your time to come back?" _

"_So what are you playing at Leo? Why should I care?" _

"_You obviously like her. Why don't you act on it?"  
_

"_Shut up, I've had enough of your cheek for one day. We're almost at the edge of the wards."  
_

With that he lunged the last leg, cast a bubble head charm on him and Lion and apparated right above the ocean.

"_This the spot? Lion, double check the map." _

"_Yes it is Harry. Really, I can read a map much better than you can and yet you doubt my abilities, jeez such confidence you instill in me." _

"_Humph, you know that's not true. Sometimes you get a bit arrogant and that tends to screw you over. Now I'm going down, so is this the exact spot he went down?"_

"_Yes just go and stop pestering me!" _

Harry stopped levitation them and the fell into the water. Something was stopping them from sinking, so Harry decided to help them along. He cast the counter to a weightless charm, to make their weight triple what it was. The sunk slowly, but surely. For the hell of it, Harry cast the charm two more times making them twenty seven times their own weight. This let them sink faster than two hundred kilometers an hour.

After the fall, Lion seemed utterly distraught. There was a spot of light in the water about ten miles ahead. As Harry and Lion walked toward it, they began some light conversation. _"What the hell is your problem? That wasn't very funny!" _

"_It is when you look at your face, besides you can consider it payback for the cheek before."_

"_At least what I said was true! Don't deny it, because animals can tell when a human lies to them. You humans don't know how to lie well, and it will be your downfall."_

"_Sod off Leo, sod off." _

After about nine kilometers, Harry realized that he could breathe. Tom had cast a switching spell to swap the water for air in everything except color and weight; it was air that one could swim through. Just as Harry began to enjoy this a little too much, Lion began to hiss at him angrily to warn him to stay focused.

He stopped aimlessly swimming with a sigh and walked towards the light. When the weird air ended and normal air began, he pulled out his invisibility cloak and slipped it on. He was a bit big for it, but it still covered him head to toe quite easily, as long as he didn't move in long strides.

He came to a small castle. It looked in every way like Hogwarts except for one noticeable difference (excluding the size which was one fourth of Hogwarts), the crest. Instead of the lovable four section shield, there was a crest of only one person. It contained a snake and Salazar Slytherin. The snake was wrapped around the founder's head like a crown, and came down elegantly along the side of his neck. The founder had a nasty grin to him and his eyes were alive with flame dancing win them. He undoubtedly told his current heir if anyone was outside.

Harry felt his hair stand up as he contemplated fighting Tom. He was much more powerful now, whilst Voldemort hadn't even split his soul yet, much less found much dark magic to use. It was a half and half decision and he somehow knew that confrontation could not be avoided forever, even in this time period.

He sighed and got an idea, oddly enough.

"_Hey Leo, can you be discreet and find a place for me to get in? You'll have to go from under the cloak to avoid Salazar's eyes. Also, when you get in, create a diversion to avert Slytherin's gaze. That way, I'll sneak in and we'll meet up. Remember, you can't talk once inside because he knows parseltongue as well."_

"_Yes of course Harry, good luck and be careful. We want to avoid a direct confrontation, so please don't give in to your bloody anger and let it cloud your judgment." _And with that said, he slithered away ready to serve his master to the death. Harry just hoped he wouldn't have to. Harry only had to wait but five minutes before he heard a crash, and saw Slytherin's red eyes lose their fire. This meant that he was no longer being watched. 

He slipped into the castle, making sure to leave traces of his footsteps unknown. He waited near the entrance for another five minutes before he felt Lion slither back up his robes. He let out a breath thankful that his little friend was safe. Little did Harry know what was waiting for him in the castle.

He entered the first chamber, only to come across a panel of doors. There were two. The one that led to where Voldemort was without any obstacles was obviously locked with a simple password spell that would cause it to open only to the password. He tried everything he could think of but to no avail. The obvious of all passwords wouldn't work. Harry gave up and decided to go along the path with the obstacles.

This, when Harry looked back at it, was a terrible decision.

The first room Harry came too was bone chilling. It had a certain cold prospect to it, one that only a dementor could give it. On top of the dementor's aura of bone-chilling numbness, there were about twelve dozen cooling charms on the room. Harry had only a few options. The first thing he had to secure was Lion. If Lion was exposed to the cold air, he would freeze up. Snake skin was never meant to be frozen.

He quickly cast a warming charm on his companion and took off his cloak. He wrapped up Lion in the cloak and put it on the ground on a conjured pillow. That would hold him at least. The next thing he did was cast his patronus. The stag bounded to the dementor, but this dementor seemed the least bothered by it. Harry knew the only way to continue would be to kill the dementor.

In his recent studies, Harry had found a foolproof way to kill a dementor forever. Before he had a chance to field test his theory, he had been called onto this mission and lost thought of it but now was the time. He had few options, so he transformed into Berylbeak and charged. The dementor could only be killed when it had its hood up and was attacked as it administered the kiss. Only the one being kissed could kill it, making the process extremely difficult not to mention dangerous.

Harry front out panicked. He had one option, but it was a gamble. He did it. He stood there in his phoenix for waiting for the dementor to lower its hood and open its mouth. As it did, a bluebell fireball began to for inside Berylbeak's mouth. Once the dementor took the final step in the kiss, he blasted it before his soul left his body and it fell down, dead.

Harry fell to his knees and took deep breaths. His theory had worked for once without the help or proofreading of Hermione, but that was definitely close. This was suicide, marching into Voldemort's castle so bloody early in the mission. It was not something he should have taken lightly.

Even if Tom himself didn't find Harry, he would inevitably have security of some sorts. But at least this explained all of the muggle theories about the triangle and disappearances. A dementor as hungry as that one needed souls constantly and Tom must need people to work like house elves to clean and cook. The only people he saw below house elves were muggles, so in a sick twisted way, it all made sense. Harry was still panting on the floor as Lion slithered over.

"_Harry, are you ok? That was some trick you used, killing the dementor! I've never seen anyone do that without using an extremely dark spell to banish it; that was amazing. But again you were careless, and the entire thing was reckless. It's a wonder you're still alive. Again, be a little more careful JEEZ!" _

'_Yeah, you're right that was stupid, but don't get used to it. You will still be wrong almost every other time, so leave it there. I'm fine, and I just need a bit of chocolate. Dementors suck, trust me you were lucky not to have seen that thing's bloody face scared the hell out of me. Come on, let's keep going."_

The pair entered the next room, which was almost as cold as the previous.

"_What the hell Harry, does this guy have a bloody obsession with cold?" _

"_Not that I knew of, and frankly I'm a bit sick of it too. Wonder what he keeps in such a big room anyway."_

Harry was right to wonder. The room was as big as half a Quidditch pitch and was covered head to toe in snow. The snow was fresh too, as if it had just snowed. It was a beautiful sight trapped in a dungeon. But unfortunately, Harry didn't have to wait long to find out what was hiding inside the dungeon, for a huge beast made it's way to greet Harry.

The beast was as big as a giant, but had white skin. Its torso and legs were covered in armor, as was its lower arms. It had a kendo mask on it' face made of pure gold, and was radiating a cold barrier. It was a frost-giant.

Harry had read about frost giants before, and what he read fascinated him. Frost giants were a formidable force, but had gone supposedly extinct after the ice age. The giants themselves were actually much smarter than their land counterparts, but also much slower. The only weak spot they had was their speed. They fed on anything alive and were almost immortal. Killing one was impossible unless a huge supply of magic was used. The one technique that could kill them was the dragon fire, but it would have to be backed up with an intense magical core for it to last long enough. This battle was a dangerous one.

Harry had few options but to do it. He needed a good position first, which would be easy considering the speed of a frost giant was nothing to boast about. He ran to the end of the room to gather the energy to perform the spell.

He stood waiting for the giant to come. It took what seemed like years, but when it was in range, Harry focused his mind only on the spell and yelled_ "Phlogiston Draconis!" _Instead of the normal fire shooting out though, a small ball of fire began to form at the tip of Harry's wand. The ball grew until it was the size of hippogriff and then Harry let it go. It charged towards the giant, who was too slow to dodge it. The giant was hit right in the face, courtesy of Harry's aim and it fell flat out onto the ground.

Harry went to check on it. He looked it in the face and suddenly it opened its eyes and grabbed Harry's throat with one hand. Harry cast the dragon fire hex again and this time engulfed it inside the flame. He remembered on what had seemed his last breath that if exposed to heat long enough, the giant would die on its own. It would take a lot of magic, but he had no choice.

He enlarged the fire prison to hold the giant, but that took a huge blast of magic. To hold a prism like that for over a few minutes would be a devastating blow to him, but Harry had very little choice in the matter. If he was to die, he would die fighting and besides, this beat the hell out of reading and researching any day (not that he would say that especially to Hermione's face).

It was after about an hour that the giant collapsed and fell face first onto the hard floor, cracking its mask. Harry didn't have much time to soak in his victory as he collapsed as well. The last thing he saw was Lion slithering towards him, worry-stricken.

Harry awoke after what seemed minutes later. He turned to his snake companion.

"_Hey Leo, how long was I asleep?"_

"_Oh Harry, you're awake! I had thought you a dead man for sure. Well, to answer your question, you were asleep for about thirty six hours."_

"_THIRTY SIX HOURS? Sweet Merlin, that means that we've been gone nearly three days! We better get going, we have very little time to lose."_

Harry didn't even wait for a response, and Lion just had enough time to leap into Harry's cloak pocket as he bolted to the door that lead to the next beast they had to fight. Little did Harry know he was in for hell.

This new chamber was very archaic. It was filled with ancient style architecture and had Greek pillars. There were runes on many of the architectural things, but nothing Harry could identify. The temperature was quite refreshing after the two frozen chambers. As Harry proceeded, the door closed behind him.

At the same time as the door clicked closed, a creature charged at Harry, ramming him in the back. Harry was thrown into a pillar face-first. He heard his nose break with a _crack!_ And he fell down with a thud. Fear coursed through him like blood. What was it he was facing? He quickly lurched out of the way as the creature attacked him again.

What he saw was a disgusting sight. It was a human body, slightly bigger than usual, with a bull's head on it. The whole thing was covered in brown fur-like material, except for the chest, which was pure flesh. It was a Minotaur. Harry fainted on the inside.

Facing down a Minotaur is not only extremely difficult, but also fairly putrid. When one looks at a Minotaur, he tends to see a human whose head was severed and replaced by a bull's. Harry however had little time for these thoughts. When a Minotaur charges at you, you tend to let all other things go until you are out of it's path.

Harry got up quickly, just as the Minotaur charged again. He dodged and began to think. What spells worked against centaurs? The same would probably work against Minotaurs, but they would have to be aimed at the underbelly. This was a tricky situation, but the impediment jinx would easily work to slow the beast down.

Harry positioned his wand at the beast's underbelly and shouted _"Impedimenta!"_ But no curse shot out of his wand. He couldn't use any hexes, as he hadn't exactly had much to eat and his magical exhaustion had not passed over. This was bad. Harry was broken out of his reverie by a fist making contact with his stomach. The force was so powerful it knocked him off his feet and sent him flying.

Minotaurs had the strength of half giants too. This wasn't going to end well. Harry was too exhausted to use his wand, and too hungry to use brute force or logic (Ron would be proud). It seemed very unlikely. Just then Harry realized that he hadn't heard from Lion. He checked to see if he was hurt, only to find him missing. This relieved Harry that he was out of harm's way.

It couldn't end like this could it? Harry had to fight back and fast. The beast came at him again and pounded him with its horns. One of the horns jutted inside his left shoulder, making a deep wound and a dislocation. It was over. 'I'm going to die. All this for nothing; the mission is a failure.' He thought wearily.

He knew he never usually was the pessimist, but no force could save him now. His recklessness had dug his own grave and now it was over. He had had a decent life and a somewhat fulfilling one. If he was to die now, he would face death, not cower from it, prolonging the attack.

The beast began to charge at Harry ready to deliver its final blows. It rammed him again, kicked his face several times, breaking his glasses and causing his cheeks to swell up in pain. The beast punched his stomach and his jaw, breaking it. The worst part was that the Minotaur was just toying with Harry, causing him pain before it killed him and devoured him. The beast took the liberty to break a pillar and smash it on both his legs, breaking them. There was no escape now.

It was all he could do to watch as the beast enjoyed its attacking. He smiled, so as to make sure he died with a smile on his face rather than a frown. He was dying in a way that would help pursue the goals that he had fought for all his life and that was enough to make it somewhat worthwhile.

It was over. The Minotaur raised its fist to deliver the final killing blow to the spine, but instead fell backwards with a thud. Harry was utterly perplexed. Lion slithered out from under the body of the Minotaur and bared his fangs in triumph. He was covered in blood and was unharmed.

"_Lion, what happened? Where were you?"_

"_Well while you were being knocked around, I took the liberty to slither up and down that vile beast, prodding it with my fangs. I had to bite the damn thing about twenty times until the poison began to take effect. Now, forget me you look like you're about to die, how the hell do you propose to get back?"_

"_Well, what if I immediately flame back? I may have just enough energy to go back to the hospital wing. If I do please go to Ginny and somehow tell her that I'm back. I know you have learned to write in English, so please just do it somehow."_

"_Fine, but don't use up much of your energy to flame. If you do that, you'll only waste your life. I just saved you, so try not to die immediately. Come on Harry just pull through a bit. Let's go quickly!"_

Harry transformed into his phoenix form, with Lion clutching one of his talons. His wings were broken, as was his beak. But all that didn't matter as he prepared to flame for the first time in his life. With a flash of bluebell, they were gone.

Harry reappeared in the hospital wing in his human form. Lion had made a noise, and alerted Madam Pomfrey to Harry's arrival. The healer rushed in and took one look at Harry. She gasped clearly stunned at his condition. He had no time to lose.

"Cloak pocket on the left." He said right before he fainted.

Ginny was sitting in her quarters grading essays. Harry had been gone since Halloween and it was now December third. He hadn't come back yet and she was starting to get quite worried.

She was beginning to get an odd feeling of foreboding. She knew it was probably baseless, but she was still very worried for her partner and friend. She sighed trying to get the feelings out of her mind. Harry was strong and had could do anything. Hell, he had beaten a dragon, survived against and evil dark lord five times, slayed a basilisk, fought off hundreds of dementors and taken on death eaters countless times.

Just then, as she was getting comfortable with the thought, Lion slithered onto her desk. She almost screamed, but her curiosity won over fear. She got the guts to talk to the disheveled snake.

"What's wrong Lion? Why are you here and where's Harry?"

Lion grabbed a blank piece of parchment and sank his fangs into it, letting his poison write the words on the page, a skill which took him a month to master. The words formed in front of Ginny. "Harry is in the hospital wing, possibly on his death bed. He just flamed in after fighting a Minotaur, a dementor and a frost-giant. I suggest you go see him before he faints."

That was all the motivation Ginny needed. She sprinted outward towards the exit, allowing Lion to take residence in her robes. The pair was in the hospital wing in minutes flat, only to find that Harry had fainted. Ginny's heart skipped a beat when she saw Harry. He was covered in blood, and most of his bones were broken. He had a peaceful look on his face but his limps were askew in what seemed to be a very unnatural form. All that could be said was that he seemed to be dying.

Ginny let a tear slide from her eyes as she watched madam Pomfrey attempt to heal him. She had never seen him, the boy who lived, so weak and vulnerable. He was dying and there wasn't much she could do. But there was little that could be done. She had classes to teach and a mission to carry through. She quickly hid her grief and went back up to her room. She still had a few more classes to cover for the day, so her grieving could wait until later.

Three of the Marauders were sitting up in the common room talking and eating some Honeyduke's chocolate. Remus however, had some prefect duties to take care of and was due back any minute.

"Hey Prongs, isn't our first Quidditch game in a week?" Sirius asked.

"Aye Padfoot, we better practice. Your beater skills need to be brushed up, and my transition from chaser to seeker last year was for the best. I like seeking much better than chasing. Besides I'm the best seeker in Hogwarts." Wormtail nodded enthusiastically.

Lupin rushed in right then into the common room looking a little worried.

"Hey Moony what up?" James asked, obviously oblivious to the look on Moony's face.

"It's pretty odd; remember how professor potter was mission for a few days? Well, now he's back but he's lying in the hospital wing. Rumor has it that his condition's terrible." James' face fell. Even though their relation was unknown, James felt bad that one of his family members was in the hospital. Also, he had helped James and Sirius deflate their heads a bit.

Over the days they had him, Professor Potter was quite nice to them and always volunteered to help them with their problems, little or big. Since he wasn't too old, he was easily able to relate to them and guide them. Just a few weeks ago, he had helped James sort out some of his Lily problems and he had once given Moony this potion to help him retain his mind during the full moon.

He knew about their animagus forms, and yet he never told anyone. He knew about Moony's condition and took great lengths to avoid letting anything slip when discussing werewolves. He was a fair teacher all in all and the marauders were beginning to like him.

Ginny was finished with her classes and walked back up to her room quietly. She couldn't go see Harry because most of his students were visiting him. They had all been downtrodden by his condition; even most of the slytherins had come to respect him. But no one was as devastated as Ginny, except maybe Lion. Lion and Ginny had developed a small bond by Harry's condition. Because of it, Ginny had to spend time with lion and began to know him as a friend rather than Harry's pet. They had talked through the poison writing and had grieved together over the days.

It had been almost a week since Harry had arrived and very little had changed in his condition. His bones were healed and his blood replenished, but he was still quite comatose. The only injury that hadn't healed was the hole in the shoulder, which madam Pomfrey said would take another week, even with advanced magic.

The Quidditch match was also on hold in honor of the young professor, and even Dumbledore had said a few words honoring him. Ginny fell asleep as soon as she got up, which was fine as she didn't want to think about Harry or anything else at the moment.

The next day, Ginny grabbed Lion and went down to breakfast. There, she noticed most of the teachers were missing from the head table. As she wondered what was wrong, a student came up to her and gave her a note, telling her to go to the hospital wing.

She ran to the wing as fast as she could, hoping for the best. She ran in and saw that the professors were gathered around Harry's bed their heads hung low.

"What happened headmaster?" She asked her voice full of trepidation.

"I'm sorry Professor Weasley, but it would seem your partner has gone on. He is no longer with us." He said bluntly. It was always better to be blunt rather than to beat around the bush.

"No… that can't be! He can't be dead, he just can't!"

**A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed the fic. I was just kind of wondering if Harry were to have a younger brother (like 1 year or so younger), what would his name be? Also, if he had a younger sister (like 2-3 years younger) and plz don't say 'Rose' cuz that's just unoriginal… anyway respond!**


	3. The Funeral

**Chapter 3: The Funeral**

It was almost inconceivable. Harry was dead. It seemed almost surreal. Ginny went up to her room, in a zombie like state and cried. Lion slithered over her wrist as if to console her. She knew it would seem silly, but he too seemed devastated over the loss of Harry.

"It's okay you know, I can take you in so you won't be abandoned." She said in an attempt to console him about his future. He bit the parchment.

"No, I don't care; I would give my life to get him back. He was almost like a brother to me. It's just so hard to imagine him gone. He saved me form that hellhole and took me in. If a snake was capable of it, I would say we magically bonded, as one would bond with a phoenix."

Ginny sobbed at this. It was too true. She had liked Harry; she may have even loved him. She would never know; she had no choice but to report this to Hermione and Ron. She pulled out her mirror and paused. Calling Hermione would lead to a lot of sobbing, so she decided to call Ron.

"Ron Weasley" She said into the mirror. She knew she had to maintain composure and try not to look too shaken up.

"Hiya Ginny, why the call; you aren't scheduled to report until next weekend. Did Harry return from his mission yet?" Ron asked happy to see his sister after weeks.

"Yes Ron he returned, for a short while. He's dead." She put bluntly and broke down sobbing.

"What no, that can't be, they guy survived like three killing curses, he can't be dead, impossible-" Ron was cut off by Ginny.

"NO Ron IT"S OVER! DEATH FINALLY CAUGHT UP TO HIM! Please it took me enough time to snap into it and denial will get you nowhere. I've got to go help plan his funeral service so you get to tell Hermione. Good luck with that bye!" And she hung up before he asked any questions about the matter.

Harry opened his eyes to see pitch black. "Am I dead?" he thought wistfully. He found he couldn't move much and that someone was talking outside of his box. He strained to listen.

"…good professor and will always be remembered by Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Let us now take a moment of silence to show our respects to the late Harry Potter." After that Harry realized it, he was at his own bloody funeral. He had to get out, but how? The coffin was locked and there was no way out.

Then it hit him, people were buried with their wands. He felt around and sure enough on his chest lay his wand in all its glory. He grabbed it with his right hand and whispered "_Alohamora_." The lock clicked open and he pushed open the coffin with a swipe of his arm, which he just realized was fully healed.

He jumped out of the coffin to hear a series of gasps and "Sweet Merlin"s. "Yes, I'm alive apparently, although even I'm not sure how. Just out of curiosity, what exactly did you do to proclaim me dead?" Dumbledore came over to him to examine him.

"Wow, you have a pulse, but how? When we checked you, your pulse had stopped for a good three days. You're a miracle my boy, an oddment!" He proclaimed. This was answered by cheers. The next thing he knew was that he was tackled into a kiss by Ginny, just like the kiss in the Gryffindor common room in his sixth year.

They broke apart after what seemed like forever, only to hear an eruption of cheers from the students and a wolf-whistle from Sirius. The next thing he knew, Ginny was crying into his shoulder cursing incoherently at him and holding on to him for dear life.

The pair made their way back to their quarters and met lion there. He had evidently stayed in the room so as to avoid having to see his master's corpse.

"_Harry you're alive! Wow, but how… I'm glad your back either way."_

"_Yes of course Leo, you see, I took your last words to heart and figured that if you had the guts to attack a Minotaur to save my life, I may as well live to pay you the life debt I owe you." _

With those words, Lion almost jumped and slithered back to his niche in his master's sleeve.

"So Gin, how's it been over here for, well since I was gone?" He asked.

"Well Harry, in the thirteen days you were either out of the school or out cold, all that really happened was the entire Gryffindor house and some of the other houses- yes even Slytherin- grieving to some extent and Madam Pomfrey frantically thinking of things to do to save you. Oddly enough, she's done so many things to you that we can't exactly be sure of what revived you." Harry submerged deep into thought. What had revived him? Then it hit him, his own flask, what had Madam Pomfrey done to it? He ran down to the hospital wing in search of the Healer.

"Madam Pomfrey, what did you do with that substance that was in my cloak?" He asked grabbing the healer.

"Well Mr. Potter, I just fed it to you like I would do any other potion. What exactly was that? I couldn't tell, but since you told me to administer it, I did." She asked eyeing him suspiciously. "That was a potion right?"

"Umm… yes of course, but it was just a test potion, I don't believe that is what worked. It was most likely one of the other ones you gave me." He said too quickly, but he was not interrogated further. He ran back up to his room. On the way however, he met James.

"Hey Professor Potter, I was wondering if you could come to the Quidditch game this Saturday? It'll be a blast and I promise Gryffindor will beat Slytherin to a bloody pulp!" He promised.

"Hell, why not? Nothing like Quidditch to get you back up after your own funeral" he joked and the two potters laughed. "I'm going to go back and see what's up with Ginny. I have a lot of class work to catch up on." He said and began to go.

"And some not so class related work too right?" James asked innocently.

"How's Lily?" He retorted and walked off leaving a stunned James in the hall.

The next week was great for Harry. He was feeling much livelier and he showed it by bouncing around everywhere. He even played a few pranks.

Another great thing was that he and Ginny were finally together and would be able to pick up where they left off. He awoke on the day of the match with a something heavy on his chest. At first he thought it was from keeping things bottled up for too long, but when he opened his eyes, he realized it was just Ginny lying on top of him.

They had been talking the previous night and they had both fallen asleep. Harry nudged Ginny to wake her. Since that didn't work, he decided to have some fun.

He picked up his wand and thought _'Levicorpus'_ and Ginny rose into the air in panic.

"BLOODY FUCKING HELL POTTER! GET ME DOWN NOW OR I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!" she threatened shooting daggers at him.

"Sorry." He said grinning stupidly and not meaning it. He cast the counter curse and she fell in to his arms with a groan. She took the liberty to punch his gut. "Ow gin, that hurt!"

"Sorry." She said exactly as he had.

"No you're not." He said and captured her lips in a searing kiss. When they finally broke away, they were both breathless and gasping for any amount of air. Before Harry could catch his breath again, Ginny captured his lips for another breath taking kiss.

Her hands began to travel under his shirt and he was losing sanity and fast. His thoughts were racing and his brain was at its near shutdown point. They continued to exchange kisses, each one more frantic than the last. Finally Ginny groaned and pushed Harry away.

"Harry I promised to get down to breakfast today and I need to do some practice in the Room of requirement." She pressed and got up. Harry just moaned halfheartedly, knowing she wouldn't change her mind.

"Fine then, I have a Quidditch match to attend to anyway. And be careful. Anyone who doesn't know about the room cannot find out about it. Wish I could kill old Voldy now to get it over with." He grumbled. And it was true. Why couldn't he kill Voldemort now? Big deal if the time line was altered. The world would be a better place and that was all that counted.

He got up to get dressed.

Harry walked out of his door only to be talked over by a very serious Sirius Black. Normally he would make a joke about this, but right now Sirius seemed very tense.

"Professor please help! James is on the hospital wing, he's just been hexed by a very peculiar cutting curse from Snape!"

Before the words were fully out of the boy's mouth, Harry was bolting toward the hospital wing. He got there in twelve seconds, almost a half a minute faster than his normal time.

"When was he hit?" Harry asked shoving aside the confused matron. She had been trying to help James, but to no avail.

"Only a few minutes ago." She sobbed. This was the first time she couldn't do anything to help a student.

"Alright, go inside your office and students leave. I would like to do this in privacy." He said and the students left quickly. Snape was the only one who knew the counter for the Sectumsempra, but Harry had an alternative solution. He fished out a bottle of clear liquid and poured it all over his father's wounds.

The wounds sizzled for a second and then began to heal. Harry grabbed a blood replenishing potion and fed it to James. "_Enervate_" he muttered.

James opened his eyes in a daze. He looked up to see Harry's face looking down on him. "Where am I and what time is it?"

"James you don't remember?" He asked carefully. It all came back to James.

"Snivellus." He muttered. "Did I miss the match?" 

Harry laughed at the response. "No, but the match is cancelled. It was considered foul play for the slytherins, so now you play in two weeks. Amusing that you care more about the match than what happened to your attacker. Although that's probably because you'll get him back in some inhumane way." Harry said as an afterthought.

James looked puzzled. How did the professor know this and more importantly, why didn't he tell him off the idea? "No professor, it's not that. It's the fact that we have such a great penal system that I know he'll be punished appropriately." James tried.

Harry got up and turned. "Well Potter, I expect that a lot of your friends and teammates would like to see you so I had better let them in. And by the way, flattery will get you nowhere." He advised with a wink.

James turned slightly red before he nodded and Harry left. "Well guys, he's awake and about! Just be sure not to pester and tire him, not for his own sake, but for the sake that you guys don't get kicked out." He said and let in the crowd of people.

Harry walked toward the great hall only to find the Gryffindor table empty. He realized that the entire house was either asleep or seeing James. Luckily, he spotted Ginny ahead.

"Hey Harry, looks like you're officially a more competent teacher than Lockhart!" She exclaimed.

"Shut up Gin; don't remind me of that incident." He said swimming in the memory.

"Oh and by the way professor, you officially have to host the three Marauders for detention every other Saturday at eight." Gin said and Harry spit out his pumpkin juice.

"What! What did they do?" He asked incredulously.

"Well… that would be your fault. You exposed them as the marauders therefore got them detention for every prank they've pulled." Ginny explained calmly.

"Bloody hell, they're gunna hate me!" Harry fretted. "Well, I am their teacher and I guess this'll be kinda cool, lecturing them and stuff." He said pensively. "Hey today's Saturday!"

Harry, Ginny and the three Marauders were in Harry's office. It had been expanded and had a round table in it along with five chairs.

"Well you three, you have been very badly behaved and I apparently have been given the duty to punish you as I see fit." Harry said in a strict tone.

"Shut up Harry, you have no right." Ginny said nonchalantly. "If I recall you did much worse stuff during school." Ginny said and Harry gaped.

"And who told you about any of what happened? You didn't even know me well till sixth year." He said calling her bluff, except it was no bluff.

"Oh, so you're saying you _didn't_ smuggle a dragon out of school?" She said and Harry gaped. The marauders however roared.

"No fair! You were worse than us!" Remus pouted and laughed at the same time.

"Ha! Looks like it's in the Potter blood eh James?" Sirius asked holding his sides.

"What else did the old bean do? I bet you did loads of stuff and didn't get punished for it!" James said going for a mutual punishment.

"Fine, fine, but I didn't do much more." Harry said but Ginny cast a silencing charm on him.

"Ok so his first year, he got past a giant three headed dog, a giant chess set, a troll, and a venomous tentecula. Second year he slayed a basilisk and went into the forest to fight off an army of acromentula. Third year, he helped his godfather escape from the law and go into hiding. Fourth year he illegally was entered into the Triwizard tournament and fought off a dragon. Fifth year he broke into the DOM and faced Voldy unscathed. Sixth year he was Quidditch captain and had to… had a huge power surge." Ginny finished hastily.

"That was just an overview Gin; you gotta give me more credit than _that_." Harry said huffing in pride. "I was in detention many more times than you ever were and I still got great marks on my OWLS."

"Well professor, what about your seventh year?" Sirius asked and Harry's look darkened.

"I dropped out of school for my own reasons." Harry said and turned away. What he said was no lie, but it was better to hold one's silence rather than give out the story like chocolate frogs. He could never let it slip that he knew that Voldemort had Horcruxes. "Anyway, I believe this week's detention is over. You can come back next week, and I guess we'll just have tea and pass the time. It is after all, my fault you're in detention." He reasoned and no one objected. They all filed out and left the two Professors in peace.

"Wow your dad and his groupies are way out of whack. Hermione would kill them if she knew how much they yearned to get into trouble." Ginny said, and Harry thought about it.

"Yeah she might, but if she did, we could remind her about the things she did at school. If I recall she confunded McLaggen so Ron would make keeper in your fifth year and my sixth." Harry said.

"She confunded him? Wow and here I though he was just really stupid!" Ginny laughed.

"I thought you knew? I mean, you are her best friend. Besides Ron will never be the wiser." Harry said. "Anyway, in about a week and a half, we get to leave this blasted castle and go on a well deserved holiday."

"Too bad we don't have a house." Ginny grumbled.

"Ah my fair lady doust thou darest forget that I am a flourishing and powerful wizard? I can conjure a house anywhere you would like." 

"Since when can you conjure a house? I didn't even know that was possible." 

"Well, it was theoretically possible but never been done until I did it a year ago. Dumbledore taught me how to focus my magic and shoot large amounts of it out at once without facing exhaustion. How'd you think my house was done so quickly and to my liking?" Harry asked with a smug smirk.

"Yeah, yeah Potter, just keep that bloody ego under check. It runs in your family seeing how your father has it and your mother doesn't.

"Shut up." Harry said archly. He felt a cold sensation on his left arm and looked down to find Lion staring him in the face.

"_Harry, Tom is doing something again I think we should go."_

"_Why? I think we could always wait a bit, what could he do that is so important?"  
_

"_Well, I think you should check on that. I have a bad feeling he's doing something that will most definitely influence you."_

"_Well, where is he?"_

"_He's in Azkaban."_

"_WHAT? Why would he be in Azkaban? No one of use to him is in there now except… Gaunt! He's the one who killed Gaunt!" _

"_Probably, but from what you've told me he had ulterior motives."_

"_Like what?"_

"_He's going to rally the dementors and offer them what he can. Also, do you know where Azkaban is located?" _

"_No."_

"_Well get this. It's located on an uncharted island on the coast of Romania."  
_

"_So?"_

"_Romania Harry, is the root of wizarding history. In other words, it is the root of evil, the root of good and the root of every spell in the universe."  
_

"_What do you mean?"  
_

"_In a legend, there is a book that holds every single spell that a wizard can do. The book was written by Merlin and hidden away by the Knights of the Round Table. Camelot was more than a muggle story Harry, the knights, Merlin and King Arthur were very important. Arthur was a muggle, but could tell a wizard how to work a spell. He understood magical theory better than Merlin himself. The knights were the first Ministry. They each were responsible for something, like their own department."_

"_So what about Merlin?"_

"_Merlin was the most powerful wizard ever, the first one in fact. He lived around two thousand years and created over nine hundred trillion spells, some dark and some light. Those spells ranged from a silencing charm to the killing curse. Also, he put them all in a book to be guarded by the knights. The book was never to fall into the wrong hands, but one knight had terrible fidelity. He stole away with the book, but Merlin had foreseen it. He had laced the book with a decomposition curse so that one who touched it with evil intentions would decompose within seconds very painfully."_

"_And… you think Voldemort wants the book?"_

"_Yes! The book contains the spells to make a Horcrux, which is what he needs! Also, the book would give him a spell which would render him immortal without the need to split his soul. Basically all he needs is the book and he'll win the war! Also, the rest of the legend is crucial for you to hear, but later." _

"_Fine let's go, but give me around an hour to get ready with supplies." _

"_Harry, there is one more thing you should know."  
_

"_What?" _

"_That book will give you the answer to any question you have in the world. It'll do wonders for a user whose intentions are pure. You could use it to bring them back when you get home." _

"_Let's go" _Harry's voice was crisp and determined.

**A/N: Sorry guys, but I don't have a beta and to tell you the truth, I can proofread the document manually faster than my computer can spell check it, so sorry again about any typos!!! Review! (please I didn't really kill him…)**


	4. A boy and his snake

Harry grabbed his cloak and rushed out the door. He quickly apparated to Romania; he arrived in the dragon camp Charlie worked at and ran outside. It was a gloomy day. The sun was hidden behind a hoard of chattering clouds. Rain was just dripping from the sky like it would from a loose faucet. The darkness that was descending was joined by an air of coldness as Harry ran to the shore. Then, as he ran, something hit him.

"_You said that one would decompose if he touched the book right?" _

"_No Harry, I said if he touched it with evil intentions."_

"_Shut up Leo, you know what I meant. Anyway so won't Voldy decay?"_

"_Not quite; he is a bit too smart for that Harry. He probably knows of the curse, seeing he was a Slytherin."_

"_So what exactly can he do if he can't touch the book?"_

"_Many things; don't forget, any of his death eaters could touch the book as long as they had clear intentions such as staying loyal or acting to save their lives. They could open it to the correct page and read the passage aloud. After they did, they would either be killed or have a memory charm placed upon them."_

"_Damn Slytherin. He couldn't have been a Gryffindor and just rushed in to decay?"  
_

"_Come on Harry, what exactly would be so great if it was so easy?"_

"_Yeah, keep laughing since you're not the one that has a stupid mission and has many he loves killed because of that wild man."_

"_Yeah, don't play that guilt card with me. I know way too many of your secrets and I admonish you for telling me all of them since you barely got to know me."  
_

"_Well know this; I trust you with my life, as Snape was trusted with Dumbledore's."  
_

"_That means a lot to me, but this serious mood is killing me. Besides, we have arrived at the shoreline so you might as well figure out how to pass. Actually it wouldn't be smart to transform unless you could disillusion yourself first. Apparating is a no go in a magical prison." _

"_Or we could do it the interesting way…" _

"_What could you possibly mean by that Harry?"_

"_Well, I happened to get a small bundle of Gillyweed from Slughorn the other day, enough for ten minutes."_

"_And me? I can't exactly use that now can I?"_

"_Well, actually I was going to cast a levitation charm and levitate you over to the other side, besides you are a natural swimmer and can breathe underwater."_

"_And here I thought you didn't know me."  
_

"_Shut it Leo or I'll strangle you."_

"_Yeah, of course you will and I'm sure Ginny will declare her undying love to that sixth year… Severus Snape I believe."_

Harry snorted. In reality, Leo didn't even know what he had said. Ginny and Snape would be a picture Harry would never forget.

"_Alright then let's get going."_

Harry ate the Gillyweed and jumped into the water. He began to swim with Leo at his tail. (A/N Leo is Lion's nickname) and he pushed ahead faster; lion was going to lose the implied race they were having. Harry lost by a slither and Leo gracefully turned around to send a smug look at the loser.

"_Let's hurry up shall we, we really don't want to get caught."_

"_Shut up snake boy. I will get in the jail as I damn well please, besides he never gets his hands on the book in the future, so why would he do it now?"_

"_Ah, interesting question, but you see, HE DOES! He creates his little gems; you only stop him from getting any extra information from the book. Now hurry your lazy ass up!"_

"_All right; jeez, when did I buy Moody's snake doppelganger?"_

"_Whatever, just hurry up. We have to find the hidden entrance to the cave that holds the book."_

"_How do you propose we do that?"_

"_Hmm… You wizard, me snake." _

"_Ha very funny. Anyway, I know _that_ how in Merlin's name do I uncover the bloody entrance?"_

"_Magic always leaves traces Harry, and fortunately, I can see them. Around fifty paces northwest is a slight tone of recent magic. From what I have gathered, the only way of opening the cave is to get past the series of locks imposed on it. To raise the door all you must do is say the incantation."  
_

"_What is the incantation?" _

"_I don't know; who in Merlin's name would put that in the book? That would just encourage people to steal and do evil!"  
_

"_Now why didn't I use that book to kill Voldemort?"  
_

"_Because it would've killed you. Even though your intentions were honorable, killing is inherently evil. Now stop talking mindless garbage and start thinking of words. We're almost there."_

"_How the hell am I supposed to know? I can get into DD's office because his passwords are predictable. I can't exactly start screaming names of foods can I?"_

"_Well Harry, THINK!" It may be quite under your nose and you'll never know. You have to think about all you know about Merlin. Many muggles told his tale as the tale of King Arthur. Think about any words you can recall."_

"_Umm… I think I got it!"_

"_Ok, out with it then."_

"_Ok here goes… Abra Kadabra!"_

"_The killing curse? WHY would he use the muggle version of the killing curse?"_

"_Umm, sorry, wasn't thinking; but that is the only word I could think of that I have heard Dudley say."_

"_Harry, as amusing as this is, you take things too lightly. VOLDEMORT IS IN THERE RIGHT NOW AND WILL GET THE BLOODY BOOK AND MORE IF YOU DON'T HURRY UP!"_

"_CRUD I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THE TOSSER! Ok now I gotta think… umm… Excalibur! No that's not it… Merlin. Nope that's wrong too. Camelot, round table, dragon, magic, power, sorcery… bloody hell, I give up! What the hell could be the bloody password? I mean why couldn't he make it simple like 'Open Sesame' or something?"_

Just as Harry finished his sentence, a door appeared out of thin air. This door wasn't just any old door either. The door was three times taller than Hagrid and eight times wider. There were no doorknobs, but a huge lock with a dragon's face snarling at him. A second later the dragon's orange eyes stopped glowing and a clicking sound swept the area as the door unlocked. As the doors opened, a bright light slipped through, blinding the boy and his snake. When both opened their eyes, they were standing in a huge entrance hall with no exit in sight.

"_Bloody Hell, this is amazing… This hall is great; I bet Mione would love to research it. And this place looks like a palace!" _Harry said (A/N until they leave the castle, all conversations will be in Parseltongue. I really don't wanna italicize them all).

"Yes it is, but it is after all called the forbidden palace. It is ruled by the one and only King Knowledge. He rules over the kingdom we call the universe." Lion said in awe.

The entrance hall was amazing. It was a beige color with designs in red, orange and blue. There was a golden light that seemed to have no source lighting it up. On the ceiling were tapestries, but not of people, but of magical animals. Harry looked carefully and spotted Fawkes. In the center of the entrance hall was a fountain that was circular. It had a small pointed tower in the middle, which spewed rainbow colored water from its tip. On the fountain the words were engraved _"Darkness shall never escape here."_ It intrigued Harry that the inscription was in English.

"Oi Leo, why is this inscription in English rather than Latin?"

"Are you blind Harry? That inscription is written in Parseltongue!"

"No… it's in English."

"Blind now are we?" Leo asked snidely.

"Shut up and let's go. I see sixteen ways to exit so which way do we go?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know Potter? I am an animal after all. My setting is the forest. Take me to a forest and I'll guide you through it, I swear." 

"Shut up and help me pick an exit. There are seven staircases and nine doors. Just randomly pick one and we'll go."

"Fine, I'll pick that door over there." And with that, Leo slithered over to a door half hidden by a staircase, a door which Harry had overlooked.

"Wait up snake-face! I wanna be there when we get to snake face."

"Are you calling me Voldemort?"

"No, just maybe his long lost great uncle from a different lifetime."

"Shut up Harry, I swear sometimes you're insufferable."

"True, but this is not one of those times is it?"

"Open the door Harry and shut up."

"Roger that." Harry moved to open the door, but before he could turn the knob, a bright light enveloped him again and the boy and his snake were whisked away again.


	5. Return from a Folly

**Chapter five: Return from a Folly **

Harry and Lion landed in a new chamber which seemed to Harry like a second entrance chamber. There were many doors, but they all seemed to be on the walls rather than the floor. Not a single door was touching the floor. Harry would need a spell to get to a door. A charm popped into Harry's head- the hook shot charm. Harry cast it on his right hand.

He aimed it at a doorknob and focused. His right hand shot off from his wrist and a string of chains came out. It hooked onto the knob and the pair was transported elsewhere. They landed again in an identical hall. The only thing that marked this one from the first was the slightly crooked nature of the fountain.

"Does this maze ever end?" Lion asked, annoyed at this wild goose chase. "Wait, I think we should go back to the floating door chamber."

"Why?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Just do it." Lion pressed and Harry did. They tried six random doors until they arrived at the chamber again. Harry turned to Lion.

"Which door should I grab now?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Actually not a single one yet. Wait a bit until I think my idea through." Harry waited as Lion thought and thought and continued to think.

"You know, today might be a good time to pick a door. Remember we have a time limit!"

"Alright, bloody humans always so impatient. Now look at the ceiling and ask for the door to the chamber of no return." Harry raised an eyebrow at that, but decided to try it.

"(In English) present forth the door to the chamber of no return." He said clearly. When he looked back down, he was surprised to be facing a door with an eloquent handle. It had a phoenix, a dementor, a kneazle and a dog. "Wow you were right! Pretty damn brilliant for a snake!"

"Well, I'll take that as a compliment. Look who came through after being mocked to death." Lion said smugly.

The duo walked through the door and into a room. The room was empty except for four things. A beautiful book with elegant writing and a golden cover that emitted a light that could have rivaled the sun's, a stand which was holding the book. The stand was a beautiful mahogany stand with three claws engraved with the four animals. The last two things in the room were Voldemort and a man who Harry recognized as Sirius' father.

Mr. Black (who will be referred to as Black for this scene) had just grabbed the book and muttered 'Horcrux' when Harry entered. The book glowed a deep shade of gold and immediately text appeared on its once blank pages. Voldemort began to read it and paid no attention to the decaying form of Black.

"Please master, you promised to save me from the horrid effects of the book." He pleaded as he decayed.

"I lied my poor, naïve fellow, I lied to you, now die!" He said and turned away. Harry shot a hex that barely missed Voldemort's head, causing him to turn from the book.

"You again; you, the fool who attempted to gain access into my fortress! You shall pay for what you have done to my beasts, although I am curious to how you slayed a dementor." Tom said with a sneer.

"All in good time, all in good time, but for now get away from that book. You need no information from it. What you seek to do is wrong and I intend to stop you." Harry said with finality.

"We shall see foolish boy." Was the only reply Harry received.

Both men had their wands draw, Harry with the elder and Voldemort with the phoenix. This would be the beginning of a fierce duel to who knew where.

Harry decided to start off with a blasting hex, which went into a wall. Oddly enough, the wall took no damage and just absorbed the hex. Tom however only graced Harry with three killing curses and a Cruciatus, all of which missed.

Harry took the time to fire his dragon's fire hex at Tom. He waited long enough to send a fireball as big as three Hagrids to Tom, who dodged it by using his flying charm, which Harry had seen seventh year.

Harry was hit with a very powerful Cruciatus curse and sank to his knees. Once the curse lifted, he bolted back and shot a string of stunners and disarming hexes at Tom. Tom merely floated all over the place and laughed. This battle of wills was going nowhere. Tom could be easily killed right now, but Harry had already promised Dumbledore he wouldn't alter the future.

Voldemort decided to fire a volley of over thirty killing curses at Harry bringing Harry to the defensive. Harry rolled away from the first few, jumped over the next two and had to dance his way around the rest. Luckily they all missed him, which hacked off Voldemort slightly. He hissed angrily and barred his teeth. Luckily, he was still fully human so he didn't look as menacing as he would soon.

Another lucky break Harry got was the lack of followers Voldemort had brought with him. He had not found a single death eater guarding the door, most likely because Tom didn't trust anyone to come here with him. Voldemort began to gain height and shot another string of curses at Harry. This was proving a problem. Even if Harry had a chance, he wouldn't be able to aim a hex that high. It would be a long-shot and Voldemort would easily dodge it.

Harry was at a sleek disadvantage. Air vs. Land was hardly fair, but Harry had to cope. An idea erupted in his head. Harry conjured up wood and gasoline. The gasoline fell all over the conjured wood. He threw his dragon's fire hex again and the whole chamber went ablaze around him. Voldemort would have to come down now. Hermione would be proud. Smoke would rise and suffocate him, hence giving him the option of suicide or coming down.

Harry however was blissfully mistaken, as he had forgotten that the monster was indeed a wizard who was fully capable of the bubble-headed charm. The fire however was spreading and it getting close to the book. Although the book was indestructible, the flames would still surround it, making it impossible to get to. Tom had to act fast. He cast a slicing hex at the book and grabbed the page on Horcruxes. Since the page was no longer a part of the book, it was no officially free from the hex.

"I win again despite your stupid efforts fool. I shall take my leave without killing you this time, but next time I shan't be so generous. You are lucky I have gotten what I came for or you'd be dead." Tom said with a vicious smile and grabbed the doorknob that lead out. The door disappeared and didn't reappear. Harry was frantic.

"Leo what do we do? My fire is growing and we can't get out!" Harry asked searching for an answer.

"I don't know, I just planned on portkeying out of here!" Leo answered securing his place on Harry's forearm.

"That's it! You're a genius. I learned how to make illegal international portkeys last year from the Order!" Harry exclaimed and ripped a piece of his robe off. He quickly muttered the word "portus" and held his wand tip to the tattered piece of cloth until a blue glow came from the cloth. This signified the completion of the spell. Harry activated the portkey, but not before he scorched his leg on the flame.

Harry reappeared in Hogsmeade and lion poked his head out of Harry's sleeve to make sure they were alive. Harry and Lion had an unspoken agreement not to talk to each other in public. It would raise questions about Harry's loyalties and intentions.

Harry groaned as he realized his leg was hurt a bit. It wasn't serious, but it did cause him to limp noticeably. He would have to heal it before he got to Hogwarts, but he knew no healing spells. He had two options, to stumble into the school and face Pomfrey and Ginny's wrath or to go to St. Mungo's and raise questions about who he was as he had no records of existence yet. He chose the former.

Harry limped into Hogwarts, but instead of heading to the great hall, like he should have, he limped to the hospital wing quietly. He saw Madam Pomfrey eating her meal in her office and decided not to disturb her. He quietly limped into a bead and summoned a bottle of dreamless sleep potion to drink. He needed to rest after such a terrible experience.

Harry awoke to madam Pomfrey muttering something about irresponsible professors under her breath. Harry sat up, making her jump and asked "Ah, thank you Madam, I think I'll just be going now. By the way, thank you for that great dreamless sleep potion, it did wonders." He said stretching and attempting to get up.

"You will be doin no such thing Mr. Potter as it seems that your leg is still healing. I can't imagine how only your leg got burned so badly in such a concentrated spot. The fire you were under seemed to have only grazed it, and yet you got second degree burns! It will take a day for the skin to replenish and another day for your leg to fully function again. You will be in bed till Wednesday, and by the way, today's Monday. An a happier note, Sunday is Christmas and you will be up and running well before it." She said in an attempt cheer him up, but he groaned.

"Does Ginny know that I'm back yet?" He asked in trepidation of the redhead's reaction.

"Well yes, she came down here after dinner last night and found you asleep. You should have come to me yesterday rather than waited for me to find you. Anyway, it's only seven in the morning and I trust you'll have a few visitors soon. Actually, MR Lupin, Black and Potter tried to see you yesterday. Apparently all three of them have decided not to go home for Christmas." The matron stated a little bemused.

"Great, as long as Ginny doesn't get down here. OH sweet mother of Merlin, what if she sends a howler?" He asked.

"Luckily for you, a howler entering the hospital wing will disintegrate and remain inactive." Harry let out a breath of relief.

The rest of the morning till ten was spent counting floor tiles and trying out new charms in a diary Dumbledore left behind. Harry found a few interesting ones such as the shadow charm, the illusion charm and some life charms. The life charm was a charm that was similar to the Imperius curse except for the fact that it was for specific use on inanimate objects. It had been used by Dumbledore in Harry's fifth year, right after Sirius' death. The illusion charm could be used but only with heavenly concentration. It could create an illusion that only the caster could see through. The illusion could not however collide with any real things without being disrupted. It was a tricky bit of magic. The final charm was the shadow charm which, when cast correctly, caused the person who was hit to reciprocate the movements of the caster. If the caster moved backwards, the victim did as well. This charm seemed worthless to Harry because it didn't do anything for him. What use would it be if he could shoot spells at himself and at Voldemort only making Voldemort shoot a spell back at him?

Harry groaned as the door to the hospital wing opened and Ginny marched in sporting a stern look on her face. "Morning Gin," he mumbled as she came to his bed. He looked down afraid to look her in the eye.

"Hello Harry, or should I say hello you idiot? Why did you come here with a dangerous burn on your leg and not notify anyone? The burn got worse and could have infected you in those simple hours. You are a bloody fool Potter." Harry winced as she only used his last name when she was fuming. He was afraid to lean in and kiss her not knowing if that would calm her or make her attack with twice as much fury.

He decided not to risk the latter, but a miracle came to save him. "Hello boys," Harry said loudly, making the presence of the arriving marauders known so Ginny wouldn't kill him. "So, any particular reason you three came down here at this ungodly hour?"

Remus snorted. "Ungodly hour professor; it's almost eleven! Breakfast was over three hours ago!" He said and everyone except a tired looking Sirius laughed.

"You've got the right idea professor; it is a bloody ungodly hour! These lunatics woke me up so damn early to come and see you." He mumbled half asleep. James and Remus whacked Sirius upside the head and the three of them laughed.

"Ah, so your escapades are not limited to the full moon eh?" Harry asked and the three of them stopped laughing instantly.

"You're good Professor, damn good to know that! Even Dumbledore hasn't figured out that we are Animagi and yet you have." James said astounded. "Not only that, but you can tell what we've been up to just by talking to us."

Harry smirked inwardly at his knowledge. True, he had known what they did, but only by intuition and knowledge of the past. "Ah, but maybe you three are a bit obvious. Anyway, I was wondering if you three would like to join us for Christmas?" Harry asked slowly. The three boys immediately perked up at this offer.

"Really? That'd be great!"

"Yeah, of course!"

"Definitely!"

Harry beamed and so did Ginny. Harry would finally have a Christmas with his father. Suddenly Harry made a move to get up. As soon as one foot moved over the side of the bed, his feet snapped together in the middle of the bed and his arms snapped to his sides. He was in a body bind. "What is going on with my bed?" Harry asked and the four other sniggered. Ginny took the liberty to answer.

"Since you have always decided to attempt to cut your stay short, I decided to put a special little string of charms around it. I was ordered to practice small wards, and I got bored so I decided to charm your bed." At this, the marauders roared with laughter while Harry grabbed his wand and attempted to undo the string of hexes. "Don't bother; I had the hexes strung in a special shape, only allowing one to untangle them if he or she knows the shape." Ginny said smugly, but gaped when Harry stood up unaffected by the hexes.

"Ah, but you didn't know that there is a charm for revealing and undoing the shape making the hexes very simple to break? Tut tut Ginny, I expected better. You should try a bit harder next time you deal with me." Harry replied equally smug. Ginny however was not to be beaten and immediately cast a slight trip hex, tripping Harry backwards and onto his bed.

"Looks like you're still weak from your accident Potter, no reflexes equals no win." Harry sighed, admitting defeat. If he couldn't move his legs, he couldn't dodge. He lay down and looked at the marauders.

"Don't ever pick a girlfriend who can outsmart you EVER!" He stressed, earning him a smack on the shoulder. The marauders sniggered. Harry suddenly brightened up. He had just remembered that he had a small bag of pranks left and he could escape the hospital wing by simply dissolving. He smirked and quickly disappeared. A puddle of water lay in his place while Harry reappeared in his common room.

"_Hello Harry, I see you are back. It was pretty damned foolish of you to use that stupid fire; all you did was endanger yourself and more importantly, ME!"_

"_Leo, I see you missed me as usual, but you also forget that I was the one who saved us in the end and no harm came upon you. Also, you didn't contradict me when I cast the gasoline charm did you?" _

"_That is only because you ordered me not to talk to you in Voldemort's presence. I still can't believe you did something so utterly stupid. You're going to be the death of me one day Harry, that you will be." _

"_I highly doubt that. You'll probably do something stupid too and then I'll have to save your ass once as well to pay my life debt. You can't say you haven't done some stupid things as well."_

"_If you will recall, I was the one who figured out the location of the stupid palace and how to get to the chamber of knowledge. Secondly, I was the one who figured out the fact that Voldemort was after the book. You know I haven't made a single mistake on this mission and you're the only one to blame."_

"_Aw come on and be a good person. Tell me it wasn't my fault and you deserve all the blame like a normal sympathetic person would."_

"_Shut up Harry, and what you described isn't a sympathetic person, but a pathetic person. More pathetic than your attempt to get me to take the blame; luckily I wasn't the one injured so I can't complain about how your mistake hurt me. I sense Ginny and the other three coming so I'll be hidden in your bedroom."_

Sure enough, the others had come up with Ginny looking ready to kill. Harry felt a sense of trepidation overwhelm him and he backed away ready to make a run for it, but he remembered the limp in his leg. He didn't have the energy to dissolve without transforming and he didn't want to reveal his animagus for just yet so he backed away and prepared to endure her wrath.

She came in and the onslaught began…

**A/N: Ok, i would really appreciate it if you hit that button there. I've been updating everyday and only got one review (thank you Alanna Maza). I will not be annoying and keep pestering you for it either.**

**Ok, with that done, what would Harry's siblings be named? Also, does anyone have any ideas that they may want me to include? Any idea is reasonable, so just drop a review.**


	6. The Night Before Christmas

**Chapter 6: The Night Before Christmas**

Harry was up and about for the next few days and by Friday, he was well enough to resume life without any mark left of his burn. This gave him an opening to go shopping for Christmas presents. Harry and Ginny had invited Lily and Alice over for Christmas as well and Harry hadn't shopped for anyone yet.

Harry decided to get a few special presents for his parents, Sirius, Remus and Alice, but he had no idea what would be special to his parents or Alice for that matter. He had never had the chance to actually get to know them so it was a bit difficult to find things they may enjoy. He knew for sure his father always played with a snitch and often nicked it from the school, so he decided to buy him a few Quidditch things. He popped into the store and grabbed a snitch that came in its very own birdhouse-shaped box. He decided that along with it a broom servicing kit would work nicely. He decided to give Sirius a box of Weasley Wizard Wheezes that he had rather than buy him a present. He knew Remus would like a nice book that could be used to do something useful, but what would Remus like a book on?

Harry grabbed a book called "Werewolves and seven hundred seventy seven ways of making transformations easier." He decided to grab a book on Aurors for Alice entitled "Aurors and their most acclaimed accomplishments." For Lily book hunting was fairly simple. He just dissolved over to muggle London and paid for two novels, Romeo and Juliet and another one he vaguely remembered Hermione raving about called A Tale of Two Cities. He had one last stop on his list.

Harry apparated to a muggle jewelry store owned by a squib to buy something for Ginny. He had decided to buy her a nice bracelet, but he wanted it to be special. He looked around and found a bracelet with a picture of a beautiful dragon on it. Harry picked it out and paid for it before leaving the shop. Feeling satisfied with his purchases, he decided to the three broomsticks for a firewhiskey. In mid apparition, he realized he had forgotten to buy Lion a present. He changed route in mid apparation and set course for Simon's Snake Sanctuary.

When he arrived, he realized two things; one, he was in Knockturn alley and two, he had splinched himself. He looked down to find a small chunk of his right thigh was missing and blood was seeping out of the wound. He would have to show that to the matron later. He walked into the shop and decided to buy a small jungle gym for Lion. "He could use the bloody exercise anyway." He muttered after he paid for the gift.

He dissolved back to the hospital wing and alerted the matron to his injury. After being scolded, Harry was healed and he left the wing happy. After storing his packages down in his room, he went down to help decorate the great hall. Professors and students were creating ornaments, hanging up mistletoe and making the mood merrier together. Even Snape wasn't there to sulk around.

The Christmas Eve feast was delicious and Harry had managed to convince the thirty students there to sit on one table together, even the lone Slytherin had agreed. After the feast, the two professors and the five students made their way up to the professors' quarters to sleep. All of them planned to sleep in the common room so as to wake up to celebrate Christmas.

The two professors were asleep instantly and James and Sirius busied themselves with putting silencing charms around the two so the kids could stay awake and not wake them.

"Hey Prongs, wanna head down for some food?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah let's go Paddy; it'll do us some good. I bet the two ladies are hungry anyway." He agreed. "Come on moony let's go."

"Guys are you sure you want to go, after all there are still rules." Remus said, and the other two just nodded. "There, my duty is done; I told you the stakes and reprimanded you as I should have. My duty as a prefect done and as a Marauder, I think I'll come with you." He said smiling.

"So that's where you get food for our parties from." Alice said in comprehension. "We always wondered where all that food came from."

"Why are you three so intent on breaking the rules? I mean at least Remus tried to stop you, but you two insist on it." Lily said exasperated, and then added with more curiosity, "you know where the kitchens are?"

"Of course Evans, we know everything. In fact, I could show you the entire castle in all its glory if you go on a date with me." James said smugly.

"How loud are the silencing charms?" She asked Sirius.

"Dead strong, so strong that they could block out a banshee."

"Thank you. JAMES POTTER, IF YOU EVER ASK ME THAT QUESTION AGAIN I WILL HEX YOU SIX WAYS TO NEW YEARS AND BACK! IN FACT IF YOU EVER ASK ME AGAIN I'LL THROW YOU AND YOUR BIG HEAD INTO THE LAKE AND LET THE GIANT SQUID HAVE ITS WAY WITH YOU!" She screamed.

James put a finger on his chin and screwed his face up in concentration. "So is that a yes?"

Lily turned beet red and it seemed she would have steam pouring out of her ears soon. "POTTER I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!" She yelled and began to chase after him with a wand. She fired hex after hex at him and he just dodged each one. A few he blocked, once he realized he actually had his wand on him. This was getting out of hand. She was starting to use hexes Potter had taught them in class, the dangerous ones.

"Sorry Lily, I really am, please stop!" He begged, and she did.

'Potter never begged before' she thought. It was enough a surprise for her to lose all trails of thought. But this new persona was gone faster than it came and he was back to his usual smug self in no time. Just then, they both turned as the portrait door opened and Remus and Sirius came out with plates decked with food.

"Merry Christmas kiddies, now eat up!" Sirius said seeming a bit delirious.

"Sirius and I talked about muggle parties and how helium is used in balloons. I showed him what Helium does when you inhale it and he asked if he could see. I conjured up a balloon and did it and Sirius wanted to try. He did it about thirty times." He explained.

While Lily howled with laughter at this, James and Alice looked perplexed (both being pureblood). After lily finished laughing, she explained. "Helium makes your voice really high and people take it for laughs, but if you take in too much, you feel lightheaded and you really lose your ability to think straight. It wouldn't be this bad on a normal person, but Sirius can barely think straight and he took thirty hits! We should watch what happens; I wanna see Black make a fool of himself." She said and the four sane one's howled with laughter.

Sirius had, while the others talked decided to try to do a headstand. "Look at me!!!! I'm holding the whole world in my hands! I've flipped it upside down!" He said and giggled causing him to fall. James gave Remus a smirk and they both nodded. James pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey and Remus conjured a huge glass. It dawned on Lily and James what they were planning to do.

"You're going to get your best friend drunk? Isn't that a bit mean?" Alice asked.

"No way, we owe him for Halloween anyway." The two chorused together. And watched as Sirius downed the glass. Now he was high on Helium and drunk on FW; this was going to be interesting.

"Hey, who's spinning the room? Stop it, that's not nice! And why is the moon flashing on and off? Stop it you stupid orb or I'll prank ya!" He yelled at a camera Remus was holding. Suddenly he walked over to a chair and tried to sit down only to sit down in thin air. "Hey why'd you move you damn chair? Damn, now there are two of you and you're both spinning! Why great god of spinning thing did you do this to me? Is this revenge because of that spinning hex I placed on mother last summer? Please stop it damn you, I'll do anything!"

James snickered at this while Remus shushed him and slowly handed him the camera. Remus pointed his wand at his throat and whispered "Echous" and his voice became a loud echo. "Sirius black, to see that you are telling the truth pledge your undying love for Severus Snape!" He roared, trying to keep from laughing.

"I Sirius Black declare my undying love for Snivellus Snape." The others roared with laughter, even Lily who used to be good friends with Snape. Suddenly Sirius walked over to James. "Hey Prongs, look it's Snivellus over there!" He said pointing to a lamp. "I'm going to hex him into oblivion!" He said and stomped of to duel with the lamp.

"Stupefy!" The lamp crashed to the ground. "Impedimenta!" he cried flinging the hex in a random direction. The curse hit a loveseat, causing it to fall over. "Diffindo!" He cried and hit a coffee table, slicing its legs off. He flicked his wand and Alice was suddenly hanging by her ankle, shrieking.

"GET ME DOWN FROM HERE YOU STUPID OAF!" She screeched.

"No can do Snivellus! I have you now and I'm never letting you go!" He said and advanced towards Alice. He cast a badly placed blasting hex, which missed Alice by a mile and instead hit a window. Glass poured everywhere. "Oh crap, James, I'll save you; Flagrate!" He screamed and the curtains caught on fire.

"OH SHIT! POTTER LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE NOW WITH YOUR BLOODY PRANK ADDICTION!" Lily screamed.

"OH COME ON EVANS, LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND TELL ME YOU DIDN'T ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTED."

"SHUT UP POTTER, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TELL ME WHAT I ENJOYED! THIS IS YOUR MESS AND YOU BETTER DO SOMETHING BEFORE WE GET DETENTION! I WILL NOT HAVE MY PERFECT RECORD RUINED BY YOUR BLOODY INSANE PARNKS!

"YOU KNOW, THERE ARE SOME THINGS MORE IMPORTANT THAN GRADES AND RECORD Y'KNOW? BESIDES, YOU KNOW THAT I'M RIGHT AND YOU'RE AVOIDING THE TOPIC!"

"WHETHER OR NOT I ENJOYED THIS INSANE METHOD OF ENTERTAINMENT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU WERE THE ONE'S WHO GOT HIM DRUNK AND MADE HIM BLAST A PROFESSORS' ROOM CLEAN OUT AND YOU SHOULD TAKE THE BLAME. FIX THIS BLOODY MESS POTTER BEFORE I BREAK YOUR FACE!" Lily growled. Remus found this a good time to intervene.

"Umm… James, lily do you mind helping a bit with the cleaning? We have only about an hour before Potter and Weasley wake up and we need to clean this entire room out." Remus reasoned and they both turned around huffing angrily. Remus sighed, the night before Christmas and they had already begun to quarrel. This was going to be a very interesting Christmas indeed.


	7. Christmas and Unforgivables

Chapter 7: Christmas and Curses

**A/N; Sorry about the wait, but I have been kinda busy and was hoping for more reviews… Anyway without further ado Chapter 7! (PS. I will post chapter 8 as soon as I get three more reviews…) **

The Marauders along with lily and Alice spent the entire night cleaning up their mess and sobering up Sirius. Lily was still angry with James while James kept on attempting to flirt with her. He had gotten slapped thrice in the last hour alone. When the kids were finally done cleaning, it was already six and Harry was beginning to stir.

Harry woke up quite surprised to see the teenagers already up. "What are you guys doing up so early? I thought that at least the girls might like a lie in." He asked incredulously, raising one eyebrow. Lily, already in an off mood, replied to this.

"We would have if those idiots hadn't woken us up!" James raised an eyebrow at this. It was the first time Lily had lied to a teacher. Thankfully for all of them, Harry let it slide even though he knew something was up. He just walked over to Ginny to wake her up, but instead was greeted by a very distraught looking snake.

He picked up Lion and disappeared to his dorm. When he locked and charmed the door impenetrable, he hissed to Lion.

"_What's wrong Leo, did he do something?" _

"_I don't know, but he is wary of us and may be able to track the tracer. It is unsafe to assume things, but he is much more careful about his travels. He usually Apparates to about ten or twenty different places before his final destination."_

"_Paranoid little bugger isn't he?" _

"_Yes, he is but with good reason. But I digress. The reason I called you here was to show you his current location. He is right now Diagon Alley, hiding. My guess is he's trying to get something of great value from Borgin and Burkes or some other Knockturn Alley store. I don't know why, but I feel that he will stage an attack and then steal what he is looking for."_

"_I know what he wants from there. He's looking for Horcrux number four- the diary. He may or may not steal it, but I do know that that was no ordinary diary. An ordinary book could never sustain a spirit for that long and still give means of communicating. It has to be a dark object and have a capacity to hold power, memories and has to be stable enough to allow him to be reborn without ripping or releasing the soul. Nagini is the spawn of a Basilisk, therefore she is magical, any other creature would have died after certain amounts of time, just like the creatures he tried to possess in my fourth year."_

"_Wow, clever. I never thought you able to produce a single thought that made sense and took a great deal of insight Harry; I'm impressed." _

"_Shut up Leo. Anyway we have more pressing matters at hand. We have to follow riddle wherever he goes so that we can find out where his hideout is and what it possesses. Also, I'm sure we could change the past if we try hard enough." _

"_Ok, so when do we set out? He is poised to attack and there are probably death eaters stationed throughout the Alley. Our only chance is invisibility and flight, both rendering us undetectable." _

"_Perfect! I've been looking for a chance to flaunt the Firebolt and this is perfect. Riding my broom the first time in months to chase Voldemort through a fight. This will be a great day."_

"_I can bet my tail that you'll be dancing to a different tune after today. You have to give up Christmas with your family if you want to do this."_

Harry's face fell. He had been planning an exhilarating Christmas with his parents. This shattered all hopes of it. But why should he chase after Voldemort? Would one day really hurt anyone? _"Then forget it, I don't need to go."_

"_Harry are you sure?"_

"_Yes, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and I wont miss it for anything. For one day, Voldemort can stuff it and let me have my day. I don't need him screwing up this life too."_

"_Very well Harry, but be wary."_

"_Of course Leo, of course." _

With that, Harry walked out of his dorm leaving Leo alone to mull over their conversation. This was one time that Harry wouldn't let Voldemort ruin.

When Harry walked out of his dorm, it was chaotic. Lily was chasing James with a floating rolling pin (clearly conjured) that was charmed to attack and was hexing him left and right. Ginny was nowhere in sight and the other three students were rolling on the ground laughing while a charmed camera took pictures of the two running about at random intervals.

Harry cleared his throat to announce his presence. "What is going on here?" He asked, barely masking the amusement in his voice.

Everyone stopped and the rolling pin smashed James in the head rendering him unconscious and Lily vanished it quickly. The other three had stopped and were standing guiltily. "Well sir, you see, the beginning of prank season is marked by the arrival of Christmas so we were celebrating it and Lily and James got into a fight and now James is unconscious." Sirius explained quickly.

"I see that makes enough sense; as much as I know you would like your entertaining two back, I think it would be time to open certain presents, which all of you have been waiting for." All the students cheered at this (except James who was still knocked out).

After all the gifts had been exchanged, the Marauders enjoyed a small party with their two professors. It was a very subdued affair, but Harry felt all the better about it. It was heartwarming that he could spend one Christmas with his birthparents.

After the party was over, the end of holidays came rather quickly (too soon for the marauders' liking). Harry and Ginny went back to tirelessly planning lesson after lesson.

On Monday, the first day after the holidays, Harry and Ginny made their way to breakfast joyously chattering. Harry took his usual seat and Ginny popped down next to him. Harry began chatting with Hagrid and Flitwick animatedly while a flurry of owls swept the hall.

Harry (as expected) didn't receive any post, but Ginny had been getting the prophet recently. A tawny owl lifted its leg and Ginny slipped a nut into its pouch allowing it to fly away. Harry didn't give a second thought to this until he heard a gasp from Ginny.

"What's it now Gin? Prophet beginning a tirade on another person or something?" Harry asked.

"No, there have been various attacks. A total of seven dark marks found in the sky yesterday. That isn't good Harry; Voldemort has attacked muggle-born families and is continuing to." Ginny said panicked.

"Then it's time we teach these kids lessons they'll remember. This is growing into the first war and we need to train the army." Harry said firmly. "Losses will come but I don't want to feel that we could have taught them the spell that could have saved their lives. I'm sure most of these kids would rather go down with the knowledge that they fought a brave battle and that they were on par with their murderers." Harry said firmly.

"They will Harry, we'll make sure they will." Ginny assured him, a determined glint in her eyes.

As the sixth year class settled in, Harry stood in front of the room wearing a very serious look. Upon seeing this look, every single student (even the infamous Marauders) sat to rapt attention. This lesson would be an important on.

"Now class, today you will be having the most important lesson of your lives. This lesson may save your life, or help save the life of another." The class sat up straighter and paid close attention. "Now, today we will be learning about the three unforgivables." A gasp escaped the students as they pondered the evil of the curses.

Harry continued. "Who can tell me the first unforgivable? Yes, Mr. Longbottom." Harry said.

"Umm… the Cruciatus curse sir?" The shy boy answered, much like Neville would.

"Yes, that is perhaps the most gruesome of the three curses. The number one torture tool in the wizarding world, and according to me the worst unforgivable. Now," Harry began as he pulled out a jar with a spider in it. "As much as it pains me, I will demonstrate the effects of this curse. _Engorgio!" _The spider began to increase in size. "Watch carefully class. _Crucio!"_ He screamed with all his hatred for Voldemort, Bellatrix and Wormtail combined. The spider writhed around the desk painfully.

"Stop it! Please just stop it!" Lily screamed and Harry stopped.

"I take it you all understand the severe powers and dangers of that curse. Well anyone know the next one?" Harry asked darkly.

"The Imperius curse professor." Snape answered without batting an eye.

"Yes Mr. Snape, the Imperius is a very dangerous curse indeed. Most probably the second worse out of the two. Now, do you know what it does Mr. Snape?" Harry asked.

"It gives the caster absolute control over the person they cast it on. It basically turns the victim into a puppet with eyes. The victim can see what they are doing, but they have no power to stop themselves from doing something." Snape answered.

"Yes, that is correct, take five points to Slytherin. The Imperius curse is very dangerous, especially to the sentimental person. But the upside to this curse is that it can be fought. People have been strong enough to throw off the curse in the past. This however takes immense power of the mind. Now watch the spider. _Imperio!" _

The spider began to tap dance on the desk. He made it bounce across the room, juggle books and then set it on a few students. The class began to laugh, just like in his fourth year.

"Think that's funny do you? Well think about this. I could cast this on you and make you murder your own family or your best friend. I could make you kiss the feet of your enemies and hand over all your secrets. I could make you do anything I wanted you to. Not so funny now is it?" Harry asked. The whole class was silent. They had finally understood why Harry was being so austere. These curses were no child's plaything.

"Now please can someone tell me the final curse?" Harry asked and Lily raised her shaking hand. "Yes Ms. Evans?"

"The killing curse." She whispered and the class shuddered. "It kills a person with no mark or anything. A muggle could never tell the cause of death because it leaves no sign of death on the body."

"Very good Ms. Evans, take five points to Gryffindor. Yes, the killing curse simply kills one. It is un-block able and no one has survived it yet." Harry emphasized the yet point. "I have never in my life cast this curse, nor will I ever do so. So that you understand, the killing curse is the only green colored curse to ever be used. It kills just by skimming its target and death is immediate."

"Professor, you said yet; do you believe that someone can survive the killing curse?" A boy asked.

"Yes Mr. Lovegood, I do. Under certain circumstances, I believe a sorcerer or sorceress may survive this curse, but not today. Class is dismissed with a foot-long essay on the unforgivables and the consequences for using one." Harry sighed. It had been hard, but the deed was finally done. He had taught his class about the infamous curses and let slip a piece of information that Lily Evans would use in the near future.


	8. Through the Maraudian Lens Part 1

**Through the Maraudian Lens Part 1**

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while but you guys just HAT to review… more reviews may encourage me to post faster… Anyways the other reason I couldn't post was because I had midyear exams, which I decidedly aced! 96 on math, 94 on chemistry and US history 90 on English and sadly an 85 on Spanish… but I deserved that one…**

**Anyway on with the chapter!**

James Potter walked upstairs with his two closest friends, Remus and Sirius.

"Aw, Potter had to assign us homework didn't he? We could have spent time discussing a prank, but nooooo; he has to give us a bloody essay." Sirius whined. "I even had a date with a fifth year puff today, that Swick girl." Remus sniggered

"First of all, you mean a shag, second of all her name is Swan not Swick!" Remus said, but then noticed James. James had not decided to join his friends in poking fun at Sirius. "What's up Prongs? You seem a tad to upset to care about any essay?"

"Well Moony, I was starting to think about out new professors. What if they're death eaters? I mean Potter talked quite in depth about those dark curses and he seemed to have a lot of knowledge about them and their uses. What if he's working for You-Know-Who?" James asked pensively.

"Well I'd reckon Dumbledore would figure that out for himself wouldn't he? I mean we have to trust him about this don't we? Besides, I doubt they're death eaters. Maybe they're magically enhanced fish trained to teach hidden arts to kids, but not death eaters." Sirius asked batting off his best friends' suspicions.

"But what if Dumbledore's wrong just this once? Potter is quite powerful and he and Weasley could easily fool anyone. Why would they have invited us for Christmas if they didn't have ulterior motives?" James pressed. "Oh, and they are NOT weird magical fish!"

"Maybe they were being nice Prongs, and when did you get as paranoid as that Moody fellow?" Sirius asked. "And why can't they be magical fish? It would be super cool if magical fish defeated You-know-who wouldn't it? It would be like having a flimsy creature beat the greatest ego of all time! Hilarious!"

"They are NOT mutated fish! Maybe monkeys, but never fish!"

"Fine, but how cool would it be if they were weird space dragons that could shape-shift and are bent on dominating the world, or maybe just buying a nice house in the suburbs?"

"Padfoot, please keep your wild ideas to yourself!"

"Hmmm… maybe they have really hot women on their planet and want me as their every illustrious leader!"

"Padfoot, stop dreaming."

"Yes and they have come to take me away to their home planet and let me rule over them as king of pranks. Of course you can be my prince Prongs, and Moony can be my advisor and Peter my jester. Come to think of it would they have chocolate frogs in space? Well even if they didn't-"

"PADFOOT PLEASE KEEP YOUR WEIRD IDEAS TO YOURSELF AND I WILL NOT BE A MERE PRINCE! I AM TRYING TO BE SERIOUS HERE FOR ONCE PLEASE DON'T RUIN IT!"

"Well if you're trying to be me you're doing a horrible job at it. You should relax more and stop shouting, and turning red like that isn't helping!" Sirius said oblivious to the reason James was turning red.

"3…2…1…kaboom!" Moony murmured.

"PADFOOT PLEASE SHUT UP UNTIL YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY REGARDING THE TOPIC AT HAND! WE CAN'T AFFORD TO GO OFF ON MINDLESS THOUGHTS TODAY! WE COULD BE IN REAL DANGER! HELL, IF THE CASTLE IS INFILTRATED, THEN WE'LL ALL DIE! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR PARENTS WILL BE POWERFUL!" James yelled shutting Sirius up. James regained his composure. "Now, let's go back to the topic."

"I stick to my original statement. They. Are. Not. Evil!"

"Come on Padfoot? Moony? At least give my theory a chance eh?" James pleaded.

Moony thought carefully before speaking. "I think Prongs is onto something. The two have a very interesting outlook on life. Potter also spoke very oddly about the unforgivables; let's give it a chance eh?" Moony smiled. "Besides, I think this may be fun. We can spy on them for a bit and check things out. If nothing else, it'll appease Prongs."

"Thank you Moony good chap. See Padfoot, my ideas make sense unlike your; you just need a brain to understand them." James said provoking his best friend. Sirius took the bait.

"Fine Prongs, I'll bet you six Galleons and three sickles that the two are _not _death eaters. Hell, I'll bet you the same amount that they are bent on taking the sexy Sirius to their planet, called Solarsirius to declare me the ruler of everything magical and chocolate."

"You're on? I bet they're here to kill us all and take over Hogwarts in their rampage. What about you Moony?"

"Nah, I have better things to waste money on, although if I was to bet, I would bet that both of you are wrong and that they are here to teach us a class and then get paid in order to make a living, you know like every other teacher ever to teach?"

The three friends walked up merrily to the common room to prepare for their escapades which they were going to begin in less than twenty-four hours.

"Ok Padfoot, Moony, let's leave Wormtail out of this. He is way too loud and he'll never last a second under interrogation. Anyway, we need the Marauders map, the invisibility cloak and an ear trumpet."

"Ear trumpet?"

"This one is charmed to be able to listen through doors, though it can't do anything through charms, so we'll hope for the best."

"Okay then, we may need a quick escape, so I have these tele-trinkets." Remus said pulling out small baubles with inscriptions on them. "They can be set to a location and will transport you to that location as long as it is in the same building you are in."

"Excellent Moony, but those'll come in handy later for pranks too eh? And where will the location be set to?" Sirius asked.

"Well that's the thing. These blue ones will take you to the shrieking shack, and these gold ones will bring you here." Remus explained. "And I will not waste these on any pranks. They take too long to make. I've worked on these twelve for three years now, working out the kinks. Why do you think I study so much?" Remus asked smirking.

"Ah moony, we always knew you weren't a real geek!" James said in mock pride. "Anyway, we should get some sleep. We can start after our last class tomorrow, which is… eek!" James said seriously. What he hadn't said was implied. The only class that made James utterly disgusted was Potions with the fattest man alive- Horace Slughorn.

"I still don't see why you two hate Slughorn so much!" Moony said.

Padfoot answered. "Well I happen to hate him because he hates me for pulling that exploding cauldron prank on him first year. It exploded all over his fat belly and said 'Sirius is my Merlin.' That was priceless. Prongs has other reasons for hating him.

"He hits on Lily! I mean he's fat and like thrice our age, yet he insists on hitting on Lily!"

"Prongs, sorry to break it to you, but that's not hitting on a person, that's praising them. Besides, Flitwick does it too, but you don't complain do you?" Remus asked.

"Well Flitwick does it to everyone, while that fat petafile does it only to Lily!" James said hotly.

"Ok, let's forget about our weird teachers and focus. We best get some sleep eh? Our first escapade and prank are both tomorrow. G'night Padfoot, Prongs."

"Goodnight Moony!" The two brothers in all but blood chorused.


	9. Through the Maraudian Lens Part 2

**Chapter 9**

Harry got up around seven and made his way down to breakfast. Ginny was still asleep and he didn't feel like waking her. Dressing quickly, he made his way to the great hall. This was the first time the castle felt so quiet and tranquil. He burst into the great hall to find it empty save three staff members and two students (both studious Ravenclaws). Harry made his way to his seat to be greeted by Dumbledore himself.

"Hello Harry, I see you're up early." Dumbledore said.

"Yes, well the sandman left early today morning." He replied making use of a muggle figure Dumbledore would find most amusing.

"Pardon; who is this sandy man?" He asked. Harry was baffled. Usually, Dumbledore knew who a muggle figure was.

"Oh, just a muggle saying is all."

"Ah, you know about muggle ideologies?" Dumbledore asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well of course. Muggle ideas are very interesting and are a source of knowledge."

"You make a fair point, but wizard ideas are much more advanced are they not?"

"You could say that professor, but muggle aren't stupid. They have lived year upon years without a hint of magic and yet they can do everything we do. They can transport themselves while sitting, they can make food without magic and they can even communicate without the floo. Muggles are human after all and I feel that they are a great people in themselves." Dumbledore seemed genuinely intrigued at this point.

"Muggle periodicals are especially good. They give us information the prophet leaves out, or that is overlooked by wizards. They provide an ulterior angle of looking at things. Also, another thing I am quite fond of is muggle candy. Muggles have the best candy. Here, why don't you try this lemon drop?" Harry said, offering the professor a piece of candy. Dumbledore hesitantly accepted and brought the small yellow ball to his lips and slipped it inside his mouth.

"Why this is absolutely marvelous! Wherever did you get this delectable sweet? Hmm… you said it was muggle. What was it called again?" Dumbledore asked happily. Apparently he loved the sweet.

"Lemon drop" Harry replied.

"I see that you were right. Muggles do have delightful sweets."

"You should try looking at muggle papers once in a while as well. They offer a great source of knowledge. Hell, you should try attending a muggle school to learn about science and mathematics. Mathematics is what muggles call arithmancy (without magic) and science is what creates muggle technology, which is their replacement for magic."

"I will try reading a muggle periodical one day. Perhaps you are right Harry; perhaps I have overlooked a source of vast knowledge and wisdom." Dumbledore stroked his chin pensively.

Harry smirked inwardly. Just how many habits of Dumbledore's did he have to instate?

_In the Marauder dorm_

"Oi, Prongs, Padfoot wake up. Remember we have a mission to start today eh?" Remus prodded before flicking his wand at them both. They both jerked off their beds and were held in the air by their ankles.

"OI MOONY WE'RE UP YOU GIT!" James yelled reaching for his wand which was on his nightstand, but to no avail.

"Alright then, let's begin soon. We should get some breakfast and get ready for classes. It's already eight fifteen." Moony chided as James and Sirius fell to their beds. When Sirius landed, there was a small, high pitched whine. "Padfoot, who the hell is that?"

Sirius smiled sheepishly. "Well, this is the date I've been telling you about, Melanie Swick." The girl however looked hurt by this.

"My name is Bianca Swan!" she said near tears.

"No one cares Swill" Sirius said brushing her off. She began sobbing.

"It's Swan!"

"Alright, we get it; Sirius could you please get Swin to leave? We have classified matters to discuss."

"MY NAME IS SWAN!" The girl all but screamed shrilly.

"Shut up Duck! We are in the middle of an important discussion here and you are being very shrill." Sirius said glaring at his companion.

"MY NAME IS.." She began again but was interrupted by Remus.

"With all due respect Miss Swallow, could you please get out. I'm sure you will be welcomed back later by Sirius." Remus said trying to be polite.

"MY NAME IS… oh now I'm confused. Merlin I'm just going to go and cut myself in a dark corner of the castle. She said before storming out of the room sobbing.

"So, breakfast?" James asked after an uncomfortable silence ensued. "Padfoot, you'll never get married if you don't stop shagging girls for the sake of shagging them rather than out of deeper feeling." He chided sounding an awful lot like Remus.

"Well, would you rather me be like Remus who barely settles with a single girl?" Sirius asked.

"Hey, I'll have you know that I don't engage in such activities because I have my furry little problem!" Remus said. He knew it was all in good humor, but he was still quite affronted.

"Forget it alright, let's just hit the tables, I'm starved!" Sirius said rubbing his stomach. "Oh, and on the way, I was wondering if we could spell the dungeons pink?" Moon and Prongs both burst into grins.

"Of course we can!"

Ginny woke up to an empty bed and realized that Harry must have gone downstairs to breakfast early. He quickly got dressed and ran down to the great hall. Today was a report day; the two partners would have to report their progress to Hermione and Ron. She reached the great hall to see Harry chatting amicably with Dumbledore. She took a seat next to him and began her breakfast.

After breakfast, Harry and Ginny walked slowly back to their quarters to get ready for class.

"Harry, I didn't know that you were on good terms with the headmaster?" Ginny asked in passing. "Besides the fact that you're disappointed in him, we were told not to get to close to him during our mission weren't we?"

"Yes Ginny, you're absolutely right, but relax over it. It's not like I'm messing up the mission am I?" Harry asked playfully.

"Fine, but it's on your head; when we return and Hermione's pissed, you have to answer to her, not me." Ginny said archly.

Harry stiffened a bit at that. "Yes Ginny, of course I will." He kissed her and ran the rest of the way to their rooms.

James and his two friends reached the Great hall seven minutes before Ginny arrived. They all began to eat as fast as possible.

"Ugh, Potter, Black, could you be a bit more considerate of others and a bit less disgusting?" Lily asked eyeing them with distaste.

"Sawee Eblands, blut here win a flush!" James said spitting food in the process. Lily looked horrified. Remus felt an odd need to help his friend out in this situation.

"What James meant to say is that we're in a rush to study today. James and Sirius wanted to be early for potions today as well." Remus said, coming to James' rescue and hurting him all in one blow. James paled considerably.

Lily looked shocked. "Is that true Potter?" She asked incredulously.

"Of course it is Evans! I mean would old Remus "bookworm" Lupin lie to you?" he said glaring at Remus.

"Well, I'm glad that you are beginning to take your studies seriously now." She said as she left the table.

"THANKS A LO-" James began but Remus silenced him by pointing at their two professors.

"Look, Potter and Weasley are moving; let's go!" Remus said and all three friends scrambled under the cloak.

The Marauders (minus Peter) followed the two listening as they went along:

"Harry, I didn't know that you were on good terms with the headmaster?" Ginny asked in passing. "Besides the fact that you're disappointed in him, we were told not to get to close to him during our mission weren't we?"

"Yes Ginny, you're absolutely right, but relax over it. It's not like I'm messing up the mission am I?" Harry asked playfully.

"Fine, but it's on your head; when we return and Hermione's pissed, you have to answer to her, not me." Ginny said archly.

Harry stiffened a bit at that. "Yes Ginny, of course I will." He kissed her and ran the rest of the way to their rooms.

The three marauders stood in silence mouths agape at the two. James was right, they were death eaters!

"Does this situation warrant the words 'I told you so'?" James asked horrified at the prospect of their teachers being Death Eaters, yet giddy at the prospect of winning a bet with Sirius.

"I don't believe it. We trusted them and they turned their backs on us; traitors!" Sirius yelled at no one in particular.

"Now guys, maybe we are jumping to conclusions. One, he gave me that potion that lets me retain my mind during the full moon. Doesn't that count for something?" Remus asked, ever the sensible one.

"Probably gives it to all the death eater wolves so they can kill consciously." James spat. "And to think, a Potter a death eater. Probably a disowned wanker anyway."

"Oh, come on, maybe he's not a death eater. I mean wouldn't Dumbledore have checked him for the mark? And another thing, he talks of death eaters like they're dirt and hates slytherins with a passion." Remus reasoned.

"So, he could be a cocky death eater speaking as others are his lowers, and he doesn't have to be from Slytherin does he? He could be a puff, or a claw." Sirius reasoned back. Remus sighed; the other two were going to be very stubborn about this.

"Oh fine, but when I'm right about this you two will have to study for three hours straight with me for a week for our NEWTS next year!" Remus threatened and both boys nodded their heads cockily.

James was quite angry with this new development. He had a hex on the tip of his tongue and the next non-marauder he saw was going to get it. A fourth year 'puff was strolling down the corridor and stopped to wave to the three popular boys. The curse flew of James' wand and hit the boy square in the nose.

A second later, the boy had a head twice his original one's size and fell over with a thud. Sirius joined James in laughing and Remus fled. James and Sirius had wondered why he had done this, but the next minute they found out; McGonagall was right behind them.

"SIRIUS BLACK AND JAMES POTTER!" She yelled causing them to jump. "You will have a double detention with Mr. Filch and I will have to take away ten points from Gryffindor, each." She said through her tightly pursed lips.

"Aw, but Minnie, we were just expressing ourselves!" James and Sirius said before they ran like hell from their head of house whose face was now officially matching her house colors.


	10. The worst segue chapter ever

"I just knew those two were up to no good!" James screeched as they made their way back into their dorm. "But I can't believe a Potter went dark!"

"Now you know how I feel mate." Sirius said putting an arm around his friend just as Remus walked in.

"I still think you're wrong about those two. I mean, they give me that great potion every full moon!" Moony said happily.

"Probably because they want you to follow in their footsteps because you're a werewolf." James muttered darkly and immediately regretted it.

Remus exploded. "DO YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE I'M A WEREWOLF THAT I WOULD JOIN THEM? DO YOU THINK I WOULD TURN AGAINST YOU GUYS; THE ONLY PEOPLE TO ACCEPT ME AS ONE OF THEIR OWN? OR DID YOU THINK THAT I WAS WEAK JUST BECAUSE OF MY CONDITION. I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I AM A RESPECTABLE LIGHT WIZARD WHO WOULD RATHER EAT WORMTAIL THAN JOIN THAT SNAKE NOSED TOSSER!" Remus screamed cutting off James' minute attempts at interruptions.

"Sorry moon, wee didn't mean it that way." James mumbled sheepishly. Both boys settled down and thoughts drifted elsewhere.

"Anyway, now that we have that cleared up, we have to discuss two things. The first thing is our February prank. All in favor of a big bang prank raise your wand." Three wands went into the air (Peter was in the hospital wing being cured for some attacks a Slytherin hit him with). "Ok, so let's begin…"

"Alright class, pack up your things. No homework for tonight in honor of apparition practice." Harry said as the class filed out. The marauders seemed to be giving him cold and meaningful looks a lot these days. Furthermore, they stopped coming to him and talking to him as a whole. Ginny came around from behind him and gave him a hug. Harry turned to her.

"Is it me, or have the marauders taken a turn for hating me?" Harry asked her.

"I really don't know Harry. Have you done something to upset them?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"Not that I know of; maybe we should talk to the. Anyway, its apparition test day, so they're probably studying anyway." She said diplomatically.

"Yes, you're probably right. I'm almost sure something is supposed to happen today. What am I forgetting?" Harry asked himself out loud. Just then, a weird ringing came to his ears. Ron and Hermione were calling! "Hello? Hey Ron, what's up?"

"Not good Harry, we forgot to remind you. TMR is coming to place his first item in the ROR. Expect him and tail him afterwards." Ron said in a rush.

"What's up mate, you seem to be in a rush?" Harry said and Ron's cheeks flushed.

"Well, I forgot I was to remind you yesterday, but I forgot. I told Hermione I had done it and if she catches me now she'll kill me. Oh, and I also have to tell you that when you get back, you will be reaccepted into the auror program, courtesy of Kingsley. BYE!" He said and the mirror disconnected.

"Well, that clears up a lot. Ok, let's go eat and then I can get to work, eh Gin?" Harry said and Ginny pouted.

"Why do you get to have all the fun in this job? Teaching is not my thing. I don't exactly like being the leader, nor does it suit me." She said.

"Aw, but Gin, you love to boss and punish people just like your mother." Harry said earning him a smack on the shoulder. Harry ran to the kitchens and ate speedily. Harry checked the clock. It was only ten to seven. He had to be under the cloak and outside the headmaster's office by seven. He changed instantly and flashed outside the door in his ice phoenix form. Harry had recently learned that an ice phoenix could change into a single drop of water, which was useful for spying. Moving in the droplet state was difficult and slow, but changing back and forth was very quick and simple.

A few minutes after Harry secured his position near the ROR, Riddle came in mumbling about what a fool Dumbledore was and how he would make him pay. He went into the room carrying the diadem of Ravenclaw with him. Harry got an idea. He quickly flashed over to the potions room in his quarters and grabbed two vials of Polyjuice. He also decided to grab a vial of Veritaserum just in case. Harry checked the map as fast as humanly possible and saw Voldemort was in the entrance hall. He flashed there as a droplet, which wasn't totally unnoticed by Voldemort, but the Dark Lord let it slide.

Harry followed him to Hogsmeade where he apparated away. Luckily for Harry, the trace charm was still there and Harry flashed over to his location- Malfoy Manor. Harry sat right behind Tom's throne as he sat there and summoned his minions to him. They came in with loud pops and each one in turn bowed and kissed the hem of tom's robes.

'Brown nosing snotbags' Harry thought. 'But I guess Death Eaters will be Death Eaters.' He mused. Just then Riddle began his long winded monologue.

"My good, loyal friends (Harry snorted), I have called you here today to discuss something of utmost importance. We have found an opening. In one week, we will attack Hogwarts School! Now, I must say that some of you seem disbelieving. It may seem a thoughtless move correct?" he asked and Harry silently prayed that no one responded to that. One man (must be new) did nod his head and Voldemort sent a lazy Cruciatus in his direction. Harry frowned. "As I was saying, this move has been carefully planned by me for ages. I have found that although Dumbledore is quite a force, he had many weaknesses. First of all, he can only match me, not kill me. Secondly I am not alone whilst all he has is maybe twelve members of staff. I on the other hand have ninety loyal followers, three dragons, one hundred dementors, an army of Inferi and numerous other dark creatures. We will attack them full force next Friday, and we will take great care to take down the muggle loving fool. He shall not be expecting one and I have only told you ninety, my most loyal." He said concluding his speech. Cheers broke out among the eaters and Harry looked disgusted. Voldemort continued. "Now follow me to the kitchen where we shall discuss my plans exactly. Malfoy, put up the barrier of the snake once we are ready.

Harry gasped. He had heard of the barrier, and even seen it. In order to get through it, one must have a dark mark. Harry began to think. Abraxas Malfoy was the only one left in the room, and he was putting up the barrier. Harry got an idea. He changed and stunned Malfoy. He bound and gagged him before stuffing him in a closet. He plucked his hairs and put them into the Polyjuice. The potion turned a murky black and began to thicken. Harry groaned and held his nose before downing it. His body morphed into that of the elder Malfoy and he checked his left arm- the dark mark was there.

He slipped into the kitchen and faced Riddle.

"Ah, Malfoy you have decided to join us. Very good; as I was saying, we will begin out attack at midnight, end of Thursday. We will first send in dementors and then we will at send in our Inferi army. The next unit will consist of Giants, Vampires and us. We will strike with grace in full force and take down Hogwarts. There is no one powerful enough to stand in the way of Lord Voldemort. But the true objective of this mission remains to be said. I, Malfoy, Avery, Nott and Lukerson will go find Dumbledore. I will engage him while you three join in. If you fools are competent, we may be able to kill the wanker. Remember to kill as many students as possible for we will need to have a reason to draw the fool out. And also, I want that fat oaf Slughorn dead. Beware of him and McGonagall, they can duel. Flitwick is a dueling champion so watch out for him as well, the dwarf. Remember failure in this battle will cost you dearly my death eater, you will pay the ultimate price for incompetence if you screw this up." Voldemort warned.

He then continued into a long-winded speech about his ethics and how purebloods are superior. Harry was truly bored, so he decided to form a plan of attack to counter Voldemort. By the end of Voldemort's annoying blabber, Harry had a hell of a plan, but it would involve seven days of nonstop work. Slowly, Harry slipped outside of the room, and went to the stunned Malfoy. He altered his memory to include a brief summary of the meeting (minus the attacking Dumbledore command) and enervated him before flashing away.

Harry arrived in Diagon Alley just as planned. It was bustling with people left and right. Harry hustled into a Quidditch store and purchased Five hundred bludgers and five hundred snitches. He was going to attack Voldemort's forces with a big bang. His next stop was quite unique; it was a muggle liquor store. He purchases fifteen gallons of Vodka from the store owner. He needed a few more things before finishing. His next stop was again muggle. He slipped into an army factory and grabbed a few thousand feet of electric wire for fence making and ran out. It was time to hit his last stop- the ice cream factory. He quickly flashed out with enough ice-cream to feed Hogwarts and place it all under a cooling charm.

He went will all these things back to Hogwarts and took them out in a separate room Ginny didn't have access to. He quickly went to work. After three hours he had finished a series of catapults. The next two days were spent fixing the snitches and bludgers to do their jobs. He wasn't disturbed, nor was he questioned about his whereabouts. He went without food for those two days, and hence snuck out for a bite in the night of Sunday. He snuck all the way to the kitchens, had dinner and snuck back up without a single encounter. He was lucky. Next, he got to work on certain ideas he had. He tweaked the snitches and bludgers to move in certain patterns and attack certain targets. That took another two days and soon it was Wednesday. He had two days to do this right. After dinner on Thursday, he would begin placing his traps around the school. For the time before then, he would be searching for a certain object- a time turner.

After everyone fell asleep on Wednesday, he snuck into Dumbledore's office and began sifting through his things. He found thousands of little trinkets and objects that seemed quite insignificant, but not a single time turner. Then it struck him. Maybe, the time turner was in the closet with the pensieve, but the closet was always locked! Not a single person knew how to unlock it other than the current headmaster. This was a lost cause. Then it him… there was one way he could get into the closet.

Harry changed into his water droplet form and flashed into the closet. It was dark, but Harry let his phoenix body light it up with bluebell flames. It was a tight squeeze but he could manage. Finally after sifting through a few things, he finally found it- Dumbledore's personal time turner. It was gold with a aqua trim and had a phoenix engraved on it. Yes, this would do. Harry flashed to his room to get some sleep. Merlin knew he would need it. He went into his bed and cast an impertable charm around it and kept only an alarm clock insider. He had less that 19 hours of sleep and he was going to make the most out of it.

He got up as soon as his alarm clock rang. He shut it off and quickly made his way to his room. He gathered the equipment and set to work. First, he started on the border of Hogwarts. He was gunna have a death eater barbeque. He laid around seven inflatable swamps around the forest, but didn't stop there. He conjured up sharks to swim in the swamps. That would slow down their forces considerably. The giant were the only real problem. Next, he laid the electric barb around the grass making sure it would set off if anyone stepped on it. His next few steps had to be strategic. Around the wire, he poured gallons of vodka all over the grass casting a charm on it to prevent it from drying. He added a charm to light the alcohol on fire when he needed to. It would create a ten foot wall of flame.

Next, he placed bludgers and snitches in the trees. If their targets arrived, they would hunt them down. Next, he set up a few catapults in the towers. He charmed them to load flaming ice-cream rapidly and fire at anyone with a dark mark, a dragon or another dark creature. This would create a hilarious scene causing the patronus to become easier. Next, he spread Peruvian instant darkness powder all over the perimeter of the castle before the swamps. His final move was very risky. He conjured archers made of metal designed to shoot poisoned arrows at Dragon's eyes. This was the only way to get rid of the dragons. Harry checked the time. It was only ten minutes till the attack. Harry ran off to wake the other teachers.

In each of the teacher's rooms was a fully functional floo to other teacher's rooms. Harry stuck his head inside and screamed to all the other teachers and Dumbledore. "There's a horde of approaching dementors from the north gate! We need to prepare!" He screamed waking every one of them up. Most of them were down instantly and began to prepare for battle. It was time for Harry to see the fruits of his labor.


	11. The Battle and Ballistic babbling

Harry met Ginny near the entrance hall. She looked like she had just woken up by the way her hair was messed up and freely tangled around her head. "Why the hell did you choose not to warn _me_ at least about this bloody battle?" She snapped at him, obviously cranky. He grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry Gin, but I've been kinda busy these last few days."

"With what?" Just as the words escaped her mouth, a giant wall of fire was erected around the school. Harry smiled.

"With things like that." The wall was originally made to keep the Inferi out, but Harry figured that it could hold off some death eaters as well. It was lit with cursed fire; the same cursed fire which had destroyed the Diadem during the battle. Both peers promptly went separate ways to fight off the forces. Voldemort's voice rang out through the crowd.

"_I have arrived with my entire army of creatures and humans! You stand no chance of defeating me!_ _If you agree to hand over the school and Dumbledore, I will ceasefire and retreat. If not, my army and I will attack in full force, and showing no mercy to students or teachers. It is your call." _Silence. In one moment every teacher raised his/her wand in a signal that s/he would fight.

The battle broke out. As the death eaters entered from the forest, many fell into well hidden swamps, courtesy of WWW. This discouraged them quite a bit. However, just when it seemed that the school had the advantage, trolls and giants began to arrive promptly causing massive destruction on both sides. Harry began shooting off spells from a magically enhanced sniper rifle from the astronomy tower. He wanted to fight, but he had a mission- to save Dumbledore. No matter how powerful the old coot was, he could never take on Voldemort AND five death eaters.

Harry checked the map; Voldemort was approaching Dumbledore in the great Hall! Harry flashed down in an instant, appearing under the staff table.

"At last Dumbledore, you can finally be laid to rest." Voldemort taunted.

"I assure you Tom that I will reign over this school as headmaster for many more years and my death will not be at your hands." Dumbledore replied calmly.

"Old fool, always in the way of greatness." Voldemort snarled. He seemed less humane than before. 'Must have made a few more Horcruxes' Harry mused.

"Tom, I will still give you a chance for redemption. What you are doing is wrong. Come over to the right side and you can be great."

"There is no right or wrong, good or evil, there is only power and the many ways to use it. I have power, as do you; we are therefore nearly equal, although I am greater by far."

"No Tom, although we are magically equal, my strength of the heart is much more powerful than your. Love is a magic that none can explain."

"Love! Tell me Dumbledore, can love save a man from the killing curse? Can it help you attain what you desire? Can it get you an army of loyal followers who would follow without question?" Tom sneered.

"Then you leave me no choice but to finish you Tom." Dumbledore said before both wizards began firing off spells. It was then that Harry notice a few death eaters crawl out of hiding. 'He was stalling! The tosser was stalling to get his lackey's in position. No wonder he didn't flat out attack; how very Slytherin.

"_Hello Harry, long time no see eh?" _

"_Lion!" Harry jumped. "Don't do that when I'm trying to hide. And yeah, I was doing some stuff this week."_

"_I see, so you foresaw this battle?"_

"_Something like that, what are you doing here?"_

"_Well I figured if you were going to fight, I might as well be here to save you from your death."_

"_Hey I can take care of myself thank you! And listen here you-"_

"_Aren't you going to help the old man?" _

"_Cripes, you're right, but I better wait until I can burst out of here without being noticed."_

"_Well, I brought your cloak if you need it. Oh and before you do something idiotic, your father and his group have headed out into the battle as well."_

"_HOLY SHIT, what the hell should I do?" _

Under the only other invisibility cloak in the castle, James, Sirius and Remus left the common rooms to head into battle.

"Prongs, are you sure we should be out here?" Moony asked.

"Ever the prefect, eh Moony? Of course Prongs is sure, I mean we should alert the teachers that we have a traitor in our midst and that we should join the battle ourselves. We haven't had a bit of fun in ages have we?" Padfoot asked.

"Oi you two, keep it down. We may be invisible, but we're not exactly inaudible now are we?" James scolded. The three made their way down to the entrance hall stealthily. They watched as the battle brewed and death eaters shot green spells right and left and threw of the cloak.

"You know prongs, throwing the cloak off us may not have been the smartest thing to do eh?" Remus said as he dodged killing curses randomly being flung.

"Yeah prongs, not your best idea." Sirius agreed as he began firing off stunners. "Is it me or are you feeling kinda chilly?" He asked as a Dementor crept up behind him.

"Expecto Patronum!" Both his companions screamed, and the dementor behind him fled.

"Damn Padfoot, be a bit more careful eh?" James said shaking his head.

"Yeah, honestly, you two look at this like some kind of joke. This is real; if we die here there's no rising from the dead!" Remus emphasized. The two just stood there until James broke out into a smile.

"Tell that to Professor Potter, Death eater extraordinaire." James said and laughed. "Where is the tosser anyway, I haven't seen him fighting."

"Probably under a robe and mask like the other Death cronies." Sirius offered.

"Alright, enough talk; why the hell did we sneak out here anyway?" Remus asked as he dodged a bludger.

"Well Padfoot and I wanted to see how we could fare in a real duel, if we became Aurors. You just came here to see that we didn't die." James offered smugly.

"Shut up Prongs and let's get the hell out of here. You guy's will just slow the teachers down." Remus said and his companions put on faces of mock-offense. Before anyone could say a word, a killing curse flew by Remus' ear.

"Well, well, well what do we have here? Hogwarts students out of bed; don't worry though, I'll make sure they get their _rest_." And the battle began. Three against one and neither side was giving in. "You brats are quite good for your age, but let's see how you fare against real magic! _Crucio!_" He screamed and Remus collapsed screaming while the death eater laughed.

"Release him now! _Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Phlogiston Draconis!" _James screamed attempting the dragon's fire curse, but only getting a few embers out. The death eater laughed at the pathetic attempt.

"Maybe you would like to be next? _Crucio!"_ He screamed and James collapsed screaming as well. He tried to resist, but he had a snowball's chance in hell. Padfoot came to his rescue.

"_Stupefy Tarentangela! Rictumsempra!_" He screamed. None of the curses hit, but the Death Eater was distracted enough to release a panting James from the curse. At this point both Remus and James were too weak to move and were panting uncontrollably. "YOU! The meddlesome Black sheep of the Black family; your parents will thank me for putting you in your place won't they?"

Sirius knew he was at a dead end; there was no way he could take on a death eater, no matter his skill, in a one on one fair fight. What could he do?

_**Meanwhile…**_

Harry pulled out from under the table and began shooting down death eater's mercilessly. He disarmed them and bound them before setting a ring of fire around them. He had finished off two of them by the time Voldemort and the other three noticed him.

"YOU AGAIN!" Voldemort yelled, his voice filled with trepidation that only Harry could pick up. "Why do you always show up and screw up my plans?" He asked still dueling while his companions began attacking Harry.

"What can I say, it's fun." Harry replied cheekily before incapacitating the death eaters he was fighting. "Headmaster, I've got to go; some students decided to join the fight and they are probably in danger.

"Thank you Harry, please continue. I can assure you that Tom and I will get on quite well without you." He said and gave Harry one last smile before he left the hall.

Harry raced out of the great hall, momentarily pausing to check the map. As soon as he found the three dots he needed, he rand down to where they were. The sight he saw nearly gave him a heart attack. James and Remus were on the ground, obviously having been released from the Cruciatus recently. Sirius was being held under the curse, screaming his lungs out.

"Well Black, I'm honored to be the on to end your pathetic life once in for al; _Avada-" _He began but was cut of by a curse from Harry that burned his hand.

"Get away from the students." Harry growled.

"Ooh a professor wants to play does he? Well, I daresay Master will be happy if I was to kill a professor." The death eater taunted.

"I'm sure your master would be pleased. You are just a simple lapdog with no mind of your own. A toy that Voldemort will throw away once he's bored of it. Pathetic." Harry spat and watched the death eater jump at his master's name. "Your master will be the fall of you."

"_Crucio! Crucio! Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra!" _The death eater spat in anger. Harry easily dodged each shot carefully.

"My turn; _stupefy! Expelliarmus! Tarentangela! Stabtae!" _Harry screamed and the death eater laughed.

"Aww the professor doesn't know any real curses, how sad."

"I'll finish you off with nothing more that a second year would know!" Harry growled and smirked. "Voldemort! _Stupefy!" _Harry said using the dark lord's name to make the man flinch and hit him with the next curse. "Told you Voldy would be your undoing" Harry said reveling in his wit, until he noticed the three teenagers still on the ground. "Come on you idiots, let's get you to the hospital wing." Harry said and levitated them over.

Harry woke up the next day on a chair in the hospital wing. He had been watching over the three teenagers and had inadvertently fallen asleep, the last week taking its final toll. He awoke to see the marauder talking amongst each other amicably. James was the first to notice Harry's awakening and smiled at him.

"Um… thanks for saving us professor." He managed to get out. He was probably not used to thanking people much.

"You're welcome James, and might I ask, what exactly lured you down into battle despite any warnings to stay in your common room?" Harry asked sternly, but warmly.

"We're sorry professor, but these two numbskulls thought they could handle a full fledge battle." Remus said pointing to the other two marauders who blushed. "I went along so that they wouldn't do anything stupid."

"As interesting as that sounds, having a big head is no excuse for rushing into battle headfirst." Harry said and Sirius and James had the decency to blush. "Also, as honorable as your actions were Remus, you still put yourself in danger." Remus blushed at this point as well, while Sirius and James sniggered. "However, you two not only pulled yourselves into a terrible position, but dragged Remus along as well. Your action endangered others as well as yourselves. I trust all three of you will be more careful in the future?" Harry asked and each marauder gave an affirmative nod. "Good, I'll just take my leave then." And he did.

"Told you he wasn't a death eater." Remus said before reclining on the bed.

Harry rushed up to his rooms to check on Ginny. There were only ten weeks left of term. "Hey Gin, what up, why the long face?" he asked seeing Ginny frowning heavily.

"Ron and 'Mione are on the mirror, they want to talk to you; it sounds pretty serious." Ginny said, shoving a hand-mirror into his hands.

"Harry, mate, you there?" Ron asked as Harry's face appeared in the mirror. "Ok, we have a huge problem. Another Dark Lord has apparently immigrated from America to here and is looking for you. He has seven people from Dumbledore's Army captive. He even took a few order members."

"Why would he want me? Please tell me there isn't another prophecy!" He asked perplexed.

"No prophecy this time, but Harry, you do have the Elder wand and on top of that, you have slayed as many Dark Lords as Dumbledore himself. The DA is in chaos right now, and the order is on the verge of it as well." Hermione added grabbing the mirror from Ron.

"Look, I can't come back now. Put McGonagall in charge of the DA and you guys go into hiding. Don't argue. Actually scratch that. Go to Hogwarts and take positions there. We have very little time left till term ends. Maybe if I can, I'll fake my death or leave Ginny here in charge of things." Harry ordered.

"Harry, Hogwarts isn't safe anymore. It was attacked and the wards are wearing thin. You and Dumbledore are the only ones who had nearly enough power to even fix one a day! The only position left there is Herbology anyway." Hermione said near tears.

"What, but I thought… oh Neville, don't tell me he's one of the prisoners!" Harry cried in realization.

"Yes, but we've been doing everything we can. If anyone finds out that you're in the past, you could have hell to pay. If the ministry finds out, not even Kingsley will be able to keep you out of Azkaban hero or not. You have little choice but to come back here and hide." Hermione persisted.

"But where would I hide? The Fidelius charm isn't an option for Grimmauld place because it would be almost impossible to remove the old one! Besides, I'm no coward; I can fight this guy off." Harry persisted.

"No you can't! His strength is beyond Voldemort's and you have no blood advantages over him! Even the Elder wand won't help you at this point because your opponent knows every single thing about it! He's like Luna's father!"

"There has to be an option other than this! If I portkey back now, how will Ginny get back? She can't make a time portkey on her own!" Harry pressed.

"Then make her a spare now! We really don't have time to argue with you!" Ron yelled from the background.

"Those things take a month to make correctly! How am I supposed to do that exactly?" He asked.

"We don't know, just figure something out! Take out like a full week 24/7 and finish it up! It's not the first time you've made one anyway." Hermione pressed.

"What about the damn objective eh? I still haven't found old Voldy's refuge yet. I have to find that first don't I?"

"It's too late Harry, the other Dark Lord found it first. He's taken out all of Voldemort's spell books and harvested his knowledge. The only upside is that there are some books written in parseltongue so he can't read half of the collection. You have to come back soon, otherwise the Order and the DA will be finished!" Hermione said quietly.

"Where was it anyway?" Harry asked out of sheer curiosity.

"Funny story about that, he decided to place it in the Bermuda triangle, dead center." Hermione told him.

"What, but I looked there, all I found was that castle!"

"You found the castle, but that was under the triangle. Did you check above it?"

"How in Merlin's name did he manage to secure an edifice in thin air?"

"He didn't."

"Then what do you mean by above it?"

"He may have been evil, but the man was a genius. He decided to put a single portal that you couldn't find unless you knew it was there to transport you to his lair. Also, the only way to enter his own hidden chambers was to offer a pint of blood to a hidden door, which only he knew the location of."

"So how did our new Dark Lord find it exactly?"

"Well we don't know now do we? We only found its location because we managed to capture a certain person who told us how to get to Voldy's personal base."

"Who's the lucky one?"

"Oh, you'll love this; you see, little Draco Malfoy decided to turn spy for us; said something about you being totally immortal and unbeatable."

"Aw, how nice; tell me you don't trust him."

"We've checked things out. He knows enough Occlumency to keep a s squirrel out, but nothing more. He really believes that you're infallible. Anyway, we've decided to keep him 'captive' until we can cover his thoughts."

"So, while we're on the topic, have either of you seen this dark lord?"

"Ron faced off against him in passing, why don't you talk to him." She said passing the mirror to Ron.

"Ron, does this guy look at all like he has made any Horcruxes?" Harry asked.

"Not yet at least, but with Voldemort's notes, he must be planning it. Besides, he looks much more human although he has creepy yellow eyes, kind of like a demon. Come to think of it, he may have demon blood in him."

"I though Demon's were immortal."

"Yeah, but once they mate with a human, the offspring becomes mortal, but has five times a normal wizard's lifespan."

"Ok, so this guy is mortal, but his natural death will be six hundred years from now?" Ron nodded and Harry groaned.

"Take all of that and add onto the fact that he may even be a shadow demon. That's the closest me and Hermione have gotten to figuring him out. It's really hard to tell if he is a demon and it's almost impossible to tell what kind of demon he is. But no matter anything, he is powerful. He nearly killed me with a flick of his wand. Luckily, rumor has it that he never uses unforgivables at all."

"I though Demons didn't need wands."

"He doesn't need one, but he is part human as well."

"So what's this guy after? Blood purity or is he just a random killer?"

"Well so far, the only murder's he has ordered are against people who have great power. I think he just wants the ministry and to take over."

"Right ray of sunshine eh? And he wants to take me down because I'm a powerful Auror level wizard or that I've slain Voldemort, and for the Elder wand? Does he know about the other two?" Harry asked doing the math in his head.

"No, but the stone will be impossible to find. After you left, there were a few heavy storms and the forest was full of mud. It must be at least ten feet under the ground by now."

Alright, that's good. At least we won't have a chance of losing all three hallows at once. Do you guys know what that would do?"

"Yeah, Hermione had the brains to research it. Turns out, that there are theories on this stuff in places like the quibbler. We asked Xeno Lovegood, and he told us that all three hallows together would have the power to make their owner Merlin's equal almost!"

"I was raised a muggle Ron; tell me what Merlin was capable of…" 

"Alright; Merlin was rumored to have been the first wizard of all. He had the power of every single magical being in existence today. He was immortal because of the sheer magic he carried within himself. The thing was that when people heard about him, they either tried to kill him, or asked him to tell them their futures or help them. Merlin began to get angry and thus lost control of some of his power. In order to stop himself, he decided to release his magic, killing himself. His core split into many pieces and those pieces sought refuge in newborn children. This is of course just a legend and is probably exaggerated. But anyway, you have to come back soon."

"Fine, I'll be back in two weeks, but until then, keep the Weasley's safe and you two go into hiding under the Fidelius; make sure you make someone reliable your secret keeper; I suggest McGonagall." Harry said before hanging up, giving no more room for argument. He looked behind him to find a silently sobbing Ginny. "I'm sorry Gin, but I've got to go soon again." He said apologetically.

"I know, but why does this continue to happen? What do I know about teaching? And how are you going to explain your absence?" Ginny said putting on a brave front.

"I'll do it, and you won't be alone you'll have Lion with you if you need any help. And then you won't have to worry about Voldemort anymore because the mission is officially over. Come on, chin up; you can do this." Harry pressed and Ginny nodded to show that she would do it.

"Good luck, I hope you can stop this menace and come back soon, but I have a question."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Don't you have the stone on your finger right now? You showed it to Dumbledore in order to secure a job here." Ginny asked pointing at the ring. 

"Ha! Ginny, this is a perfect fake. I transfigured it from a piece of grass!" Harry said and reversed the transfiguration. "If the new Dark lord can be persuaded that this really is the resurrection stone, then perhaps he'll believe that the legend is false." Harry said and Ginny laughed.

"But won't that make you a bigger target?"

"Since when has that stopped me?"

"So you gunna get started on that portkey and teach a bit more before you leave?"

"Not yet, I have to make a quick pit-stop tomorrow." Harry said with an evil smirk._ "Lion we're going out soon, get some sleep and be up early!" _Harry called to his pet snake who was about to slither to bed.

"_I'm always ready early; it's always you who needs hours to wake up no matter how long you sleep! Anyway, I was already on my way to bed." _He grumbled before slithering off muttering about how snakes should be in charge of training humans.

"Anyway, Harry, do me a favor, will you?" Ginny asked him.

"Sure love, what do you need? If it's a promise to come back, you know I will." Harry said.

"No, I want you to take Lion with you. You're his master and I know he will protect you till the end of his life. Besides, if you go into hiding, you might need a companion to keep yourself sane." Ginny joked, but could not ease the somber mood.

"Alright, but only because I know you just don't want to be responsible for feeding and taking care of him, being the burden that he is." Harry said a bit loud to provoke his snake. It worked; Lion flung an apple with his tail at Harry's head. "And ungrateful to top it off." Harry grumbled rubbing his head.


End file.
